Campus Digest
HKBU holds Inauguration of President and Vice-Chancellor and Degree Conferment Ceremony today
16 Nov 2015
The University held its Inauguration of the President and Vice-Chancellor and Degree Conferment Ceremony today (16 November). At the ceremony, Mr Cheng Yan-kee, Chairman of the HKBU Council and Court, presided over the Inauguration of Professor Roland Chin Tai-hong as HKBU President and Vice-Chancellor. He also conferred honorary doctoral degrees on four distinguished persons for their outstanding professional achievements as well as their remarkable contributions to society.
Professor Robert H Grubbs, the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, received the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa. Mr Robert Ho Hung-ngai (in absentia), a business leader, and Mrs Hung Yeung Pong-wah, a philanthropist, were awarded the degree of Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa. Ms Elizabeth Law Kar-shui, an entrepreneur, was bestowed the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences, honoris causa. For background information on the four honorary doctorate recipients, please visit: http://hkbuenews.hkbu.edu.hk/?t=press_release_details/1101.
In his inaugural speech, Professor Roland Chin said it is a great honour for him to be appointed the fifth President of HKBU. He congratulated the graduates for reaching a new milestone and said he is glad the University has provided them with an environment that allowed them to shape their view of the world and broaden their horizons. He added that he feels confident that the knowledge they have gained, the character they have built, the confidence they have earned, the friendships they have nurtured, the civil responsibility they have acquired, and the moral commitment they have developed at HKBU would serve them well in their future endeavours.
Professor Chin encouraged graduates to take every opportunity to experience the world to gain diverse views, solve problems creatively, speak out against injustice, embrace people from all walks of life, and serve the less fortunate and the needy. He also praised the four honorary doctorates for their brilliant accomplishments and said: “As you begin your journey into the future, take inspiration from our four honorary doctorate recipients. These distinguished individuals exemplify one common value – the lifelong dedication to serve. Their contributions to society make them wonderful role models for all of us.”
In addition, Professor Chin also shared at the ceremony his insights on HKBU’s ethos and global higher education. He said over the past six decades, HKBU has built upon the mission and aspiration of the founding fathers a solid foundation of quality tertiary education. The strategy on how to realise this aspiration is encapsulated in one word – Global, which is the key to competitiveness and excellence. Professor Chin elaborated by saying that the world has been experiencing the massification of higher education since the turn of the century, which leads to another observation – the higher education world is flat and higher education is no longer local. This flat world has produced many capable graduates with a global outlook and international experience. Professor Chin explained that in addition to the above two trends, another trend is career mobility which means a career is no longer confined to a graduate’s hometown or local vicinity. With these three trends, higher education must embark on the journey of going global.
Professor Chin said: “For HKBU, this means we must play a key role in the emerging Asia higher education hub of excellence by being competitive globally, and at the same time contribute to regional and local development. Internationalisation is the core strategy that permeates everything that we do – from teaching and learning, research and development, collaboration with partners, benchmarking with the best in the world, to nurturing leaders who address global challenges and contribute to social progress for a better world.”
On behalf of the four honorary doctorate recipients, Professor Robert Grubbs expressed their gratitude to HKBU for the honour bestowed on them. He said his approach to Chemistry as the central science has been highlighted by his passion, whether working independently or collaboratively. He was of the opinion that it is essential to make, measure and model all at once in Chemistry, in order to contribute significantly to its intellectual challenge and societal value at this time in history.
Professor Grubbs added that as with all stories of scientific discovery, there are three components: the discoveries, the resulting applications, and, perhaps the most important of all, the people involved. He said: “A major facet of scientific progress lies in the training of young scientists to carry the torch of discovery and invention in the sciences onwards and upwards into the next generation.”
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