CUHK to Establish Two New Colleges

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is pleased to announce that its Council today decided to establish two new colleges. The University will proceed to plan for the establishment of the new colleges.

CUHK reaffirmed its commitment to further develop and strengthen the College system soon after Professor Lawrence J. Lau was installed as Vice-Chancellor. In order to cater for the increase in student enrolment in 2012, CUHK planned to establish new colleges in its Strategic Plan, which was adopted by the Council in January 2006 after many rounds of discussions. Extensive consultation on new colleges was conducted through 18 briefings and forums on the way forward. The University Council approved a set of guidelines for moving towards this goal: the University should plan for one to two small colleges (300-600 students each) that are fully residential with communal dining arrangement, and one to two medium-sized colleges (1,200 students each) that would be partially residential.

To cater for about 3,000 more undergraduates upon reversion to a four-year curriculum, more colleges will have to be established. The University took the view that relatively small colleges would be more conducive to intimate interaction among students and staff, and capable of providing pastoral care and an environment for whole-person education. It was also noted that in many successful examples of collegiate systems, like Oxford, Cambridge and Yale, colleges are typically small, with say 400-500 students each, much lower than the average enrolment of existing colleges at CUHK. Hence, these universities have more colleges in comparison with CUHK.

CUHK is pleased that benefactors committed to quality higher-education share the university’s vision, and have offered donations to help bring these plans to reality. The University Council today approved:

the acceptance of a donation of HK$100 million from t he Morningside Foundation and Morningside Education Foundation to establish Morningside College , which will cater for 300 students on a fully residential and communal dining basis.

the acceptance of a donation of HK$170 million from The S. H. Ho Foundation to establish S. H. Ho College , which will cater for 600 students on a fully residential and communal dining basis.

The mission of the new colleges is to foster an intimate and collegial community where students and academic staff learn, share and grow intellectually; to provide an environment for congenial college life and learning for students; to provide pastoral care and whole-person education including general education for students; to broaden and to internationalize the students’ perspective through college formal and non-formal education programmes. In particular, Morningside College will seek to cultivate among students a commitment to serve the community of Hong Kong, China and the world. S. H. Ho College will seek to cultivate among its students a commitment to personal responsibility and integrity which will lay the foundation for making contributions to society and an enriching life in the future.

Professor Lawrence J. Lau, the Vice-Chancellor, said “The Chinese University of Hong Kong takes great pride in its college system, which with its intimate environment for interaction and learning has contributed in very significant ways to the quality of the students through general education and informal learning. The University is very pleased that its vision to create such a supportive environment for young people to learn and grow together has won the enthusiastic and generous endorsement of benefactors. I am very encouraged by the overwhelming support, and wish to express the University’s gratitude to The Morningside Foundation and Morningside Education Foundation, as well as The S. H. Ho Foundation for their munificent donations. I hope that the intimate environment of these new and relatively small colleges will foster close relationship among students and staff, and help students to learn and grow. Together with the four existing colleges, there will be a spectrum of choice for students to select the type of experience that they prefer.”

The Chan family has long been a benefactor of higher education. Dr Gerald Chan, Director of The Morningside Foundation and of Morningside Education Foundation, and a CUHK Council member, said, “Education is the key to the future development of any society. I encourage today’s young people to apply themselves to excel in their studies, broaden their intellectual horizon, acquire a global perspective, and affirm a commitment to serve the community. In the future, whether they live in Hong Kong, mainland China or abroad, they would become positive contributors to society.”

The S. H. Ho Foundation has also been a generous benefactor of CUHK over the years. The S. H. Ho Foundation was established by the late Dr. S. H. Ho. Dr. Ho placed great importance on education, and often advised young people to pay attention to “faithfulness, integrity, knowledge and health”, and to contribute to society. Dr. David Tzu Cho Ho, the eldest son of Dr. S. H. Ho and Chairman of The S. H. Ho Foundation, and the Ho Family said, “Dr. S. H. Ho has always been keen to give back to society. The Foundation shares the educational vision of CUHK in establishing S. H. Ho College, and the donation fulfils the wish of Dr Ho to contribute to the education of young people in a way that would mould their character for the benefit of society.”

The University Council has also approved the establishment of Planning Committees, one for each new college, to take charge of the detailed planning in order to be ready for full operation before 2012. The Planning Committees will, through a variety of channels, solicit advice from members of the University.

CUHK cherishes its college system and the vital roles played by the four existing colleges. With the new development, the level of resources for the existing colleges will remain unchanged, and the existing colleges will not be under any pressure to admit more students. The establishment of new colleges is part of the long-term strategy of the University, an important milestone in the University’s development and testimony to the importance placed on the college system. The University has established a task force to coordinate among the colleges and the University, so that all parties will be able to work together most effectively for the benefit of students.

The Morningside Foundation is a U.S. private foundation formed in 1997 by brothers Ronnie C. Chan and Gerald L. Chan. Based on its premise that education plays a pivotal role in enabling social mobility for individuals and economic development for communities, the Foundation provides support to institutions such as Harvard University, the University of Southern California, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of California at Los Angeles. The Morningside Foundation has also helped to create a Yale-China program in the Huangshan region of Anhui Province, China. Beginning in the summer of 2006, four recent graduates of Yale College will devote two years of service to teach English in this rural region of China.

Morningside Education Foundation is a Hong Kong charitable organisation formed in 2004 by the Chan Family. One of its main charitable objectives is the provision of financial assistance and support for educational purposes to students and non-profit-making institutions in need. In the furtherance of these objectives, Morningside Education Foundation has provided scholarships to outstanding but needy students studying at top institutions in China such as Peking University and Tsinghua University. Morningside Education Foundation also supports the Morningside Music Bridge program at the Mount Royal College at Calgary, Canada, which provides young Chinese musicians the opportunity to extend and challenge themselves to higher level of musical performance as well as to share their musical knowledge and aspirations with young musicians from other parts of the world.

Dr Ho Sin-hang and the Ho family have contributed to the development of The Chinese University of Hong Kong since its inception. Through The S.H. Ho Foundation Limited, the University has benefited by way of the Ho Sin-Hang Engineering Building, student hostels at the founding Colleges, a non-residential hall for students at New Asia College, as well as the building of the Madam S.H. Ho Hostel for Medical Students and its extension at the Prince of Wales Hospital. The Foundation also donated funds towards the establishment of the C.N. Yang Visiting Professorship Fund. More recently, the Foundation has supported the setting up of two innovative and superbly-equipped research centres: the S.H. Ho Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke Centre, and the S.H. Ho Centre for Geriatrics and Gerontology. Through these highly strategic investments in the University’s medical research capacity, the Foundation is ultimately making important contributions to the delivery of patient care in Hong Kong and well beyond. The Ho family has also established the Ho Sin Hang Education Endowment Fund at the Chinese University. This Fund has played a very significant part in the support of research at this University, across many disciplines. The projects span the whole range of programmes at CUHK, including such diverse areas as business studies, architecture, computer engineering, English literature and psychiatry.