Speech by CS at CUHK 60th Anniversary Commencement Ceremony (with photos/video)
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Professor Chai (Council Chairman of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Professor John Chai), Professor Tuan (Vice-Chancellor and President of CUHK, Professor Rocky Tuan), Ms Yan (Chairperson of CUHK 60th Anniversary Celebration Steering Committee, Ms Lina Yan), members and friends of CUHK, ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening. It gives me great pleasure to join you all to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Established in 1963 by bringing together three colleges, CUHK has strived for excellence over the past 60 years and become a forward-looking comprehensive research university to date. Its performance is recognised worldwide, notably by a record-high ranking of 38th in QS World University Rankings.
Day by day, CUHK nurtures quality talents; carries out ground-breaking researches; and takes forward new projects, including setting up state-of-the-art scientific research facilities. The university's excellence is underpinned by a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes; a unique college system that delivers whole-person education; bilingualism; multiculturalism; and many more.
With the COVID-19 epidemic under control, our social and economic activities are progressively resuming as normal. We are now set to focus on economic development. As the cradle of talents, post-secondary education provides a strong impetus for it; and CUHK is certainly one of the key players.
The current-term Government spares no effort to support the higher education sector in strengthening Hong Kong's talent pool. In the coming five years, our target is that 60 per cent of the students from the University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded universities, including CUHK, will be studying subjects relevant to Hong Kong's "eight centres" development under the National 14th Five-Year Plan, and 35 per cent studying STEAM subjects.
With innovation and technology as our top priority, we will progressively increase the number of publicly-funded research postgraduate places to 7 200 in the 2024/25 academic year. Together with the uplift of the over-enrollment ceiling of such places to 100 per cent from 2021 onwards, the capacity of the UGC-funded universities in enrolling research postgraduate students will increase by over 50 per cent. This will lay a solid foundation for the universities, including CUHK, to conduct extensive scientific researches and nurture talents.
Also, we will launch a "Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme" worth HK$10 billion. The scheme will drive co-operation among industry, academic and research sectors to further promote "1 to N" transformation and commercialisation of research outcomes. We believe CUHK's research outcomes will benefit from such scheme.
Looking beyond our city, the future of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is just promising. I am glad that CUHK has been expanding its footprint in GBA over the years, with a number of education and research platforms set up.
I am equally excited by the double major programme to be jointly launched by CUHK and CUHK-Shenzhen, nurturing talents in inter-disciplinary data analytics as well as specific disciplines like science, engineering and business.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have every confidence that CUHK will capitalise on its success achieved over the past 60 years, and make new contributions to Hong Kong, the Motherland and the world in the years to come. On that note, I wish you all the best in the Year of the Rabbit.
Now, may I say a few words in Cantonese.
今日很高興與大家聚首一堂，一同慶祝香港中文大學創校60周年。
一九六三年，中大通過結合三間專上學院而創立；時至今日，已成為國際上享負盛名的研究型綜合大學。60年來，中大作育英才，拓展開創性研究，設立先進科研設施等，是本地重要高等教育學府之一。中大作為人才的搖籃，我深信將會繼往開來，與政府攜手並肩，增強香港發展動能。
本屆政府全力支持各間大學，壯大本港人才庫。我們的目標是在未來五年內，就教資會（大學教育資助委員會）多間資助大學，包括中大的學生當中，有六成修讀與國家「十四五」規劃下香港「八大中心」發展相關的學科，並有三成五修讀與STEAM相關的學科。
在促進科研方面，特區政府會將教資會資助的研究院研究課程學額數目，增加至 2024/25學年的7 200個；加上超額收生上限由前年的70%逐步提升至100%，教資會資助大學可招收研究生的容量，將增加超過一半，為大學拓展科研和培育人才，奠下穩固基礎。此外，特區政府將投放100億元設立「產學研1+計劃」，激勵產學研協作，進一步推動「從一到N」的科研成果轉化、落地和產業發展，我們相信計劃將有助發掘更多中大的研發成果。
粵港澳大灣區作為國家重要戰略，發展機遇龐大。中大高瞻遠矚，早在二○○六年起已在大灣區先後設立多個教研基地。此外，中大和中大（深圳）將合辦雙主修課程，培育修讀跨學科數據分析，加上理學、工程學或商學範疇的同學，好好裝備他們投身大灣區發展。
展望將來，我深信中大將會培育更多優秀人才、開創更多科研發展。最後，我祝中大百尺竿頭、更進一步，亦祝各位兔年身體健康、萬事如意。多謝大家。
Ends/Sunday, February 12, 2023
Issued at HKT 21:23
Issued at HKT 21:23
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