First Cohort of Postgraduate Students Graduate from CUHK (SZ)

Established in 2014, CUHK (SZ) witnessed the graduation of its first cohort of postgraduate students on November 19. Chairman of CUHK (SZ) Governing Board, Prof. Joseph Sung, President of CUHK (SZ), Prof. Yangsheng Xu, other university officials, postgraduate tutors and nearly a hundred principals from key high schools around the country attended the graduation ceremony.

CUHK (SZ) stresses students' ability to serve the community and engage in lifelong learning

“We hope to nurture not only professional elites in all areas, but also all rounded leaders with broad perspectives, open minds and deep knowledge,” said President Xu in his speech. He hoped that the first cohort of postgraduate students would become role models in this regard.

“In this time of knowledge explosion, what one can learn in one or two years is limited. In comparison, what we don’t know is like the universe, vast and limitless.” Guest speaker, former Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Kenneth Young said. Consequently the purpose of education is to cultivate lifelong learning ability. “Students, especially postgraduate students, should possess the ability to learn for life. Professional knowledge may dwindle as time passes by, but ‘Education is what remains after one has forgotten all what one has learned in school’, as Einstein once said,” concluded Professor Young.

Where are the Graduates Going?

There are 34 Financial Engineering graduates from SSE this year. Three of them are going to pursue Doctorate Degrees in CUHK, CUHK (SZ), Nanyang Technological University in Singapore or other elite universities around the world. One student will start his/her own business and others have also found jobs.

Among them, most will work in accounting firms, banks, investment foreign trade companies, asset management companies and etc., including PricewaterhouseCoopers, HSBC Bank and China Southern Power Grid. They will be doing jobs related to their majors.

29 postgraduate students from Translation and Interpreting Studies have won the hearts and minds of large local companies in Shenzhen, such as Tencent Inc. and DJI-Innovations. Qiaowen Li, who now works as a translator at DJI, says that “When I was interviewed at DJI, what the company was considering was my innovative and practical skills. The translation class at CUHK (SZ) emphasizes the combination of training and actual practice. Although the programme lasts only one year, our academic potentials were inspired and our practical skills were quickly improved as our teachers are famous experts in the translation industry. I had no experience with the area of DJI before, but after I entered the company, I quickly became familiar with the terms and fit in quite well.”

Different from the postgraduate recruiting method of most mainland China universities, CUHK (SZ) adapts a postgraduate application system in line with international practice. The University will examines an applicant’s academic achievements, language abilities, professional interests, and practical experiences before a decision is made.

This year’s postgraduate students are the first cohort of graduates from CUHK (SZ). The taught postgraduate programme starting from September, 2016 includes Master of Science in Financial Engineering, Master of Arts in Translation & Interpreting Studies and Master of Science in Finance. CUHK (SZ) will continue to offer postgraduate programmes in data science, professional accountancy, new energy science and engineering, economics, gene and bioinformatics, global studies, and urban studies

CUHK (SZ) has opened the doctoral programme in computer and information engineering to better serve the needs for high-quality research talents of the Pearl River Delta region as well as the nation as a whole. Within five years, other doctoral programmes will also open in economic management, statistics, translation, finance, energy materials, electronics, design and manufacturing.