The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology(HKUST)and the Hong Kong Sports Institute(HKSI)signed aMemorandum of Understanding(MoU)today to facilitate dual career pathways in sports and academics for elite athletes in Hong Kong.Under this MoU,HKSI can nominate full-time elite athletes for admission to undergraduate programs of HKUST.The University will offer flexible academic accommodations,including study load balancing,re-scheduling in examinations and adjustment in class attendance requirement,on acase-by-case basis.An advisory committee comprising faculty members and sports specialists will be formed to oversee the athletes’learning progress and address their individual needs.To accommodate their intensive trainings and competition schedules,HKUST may extend their study to amaximum of twice the normative program duration.The nominated athletes can also benefit from the Student Athletes Admission Scheme(SAAS),a new admission scheme recently launched by HKUST to recruit and support student athletes in pursuing their sporting dreams while obtaining aquality education at HKUST.On top of the above-mentioned flexible academic arrangement,successful applicants may receive tuition scholarships and living allowances of up to HK$42,100 and HK$55,000 per year respectively.In addition,HKUST also offers sponsorship for sports competitions,sports injury prevention and treatment trainings as well as sports counselling services for student athletes.The MoU was signed by HKUST Acting Provost Prof.PONG Ting-Chuen and HKSI Chief Executive Dr.Trisha LEAHY.Witnesses were Prof.Sabrina LIN,HKUST Vice-President for Institutional Advancement;Prof.King CHOW,HKUST Acting Dean of Students and Mr.Ron LEE,HKSI Director of Community Relations and Marketing.Dr.Trisha Leahy said,“HKSI attaches great importance to the provision of comprehensive support in promoting the holistic development and sustainable growth of young athletes.The MOU provides athletes with flexible access to tertiary education.It solidifies the concept of dual career pathway and empowers elite athletes pursuing their sporting dreams while continuing university studies.Thanks to the HKUST for sharing the same vision on whole-person development with the HKSI and Ilook forward to an even more integrated collaboration with HKUST in the future”.Prof.Pong Ting-Chuen said,“The collaboration between the two parties will not only facilitate young athletes in their dual career development in sports and studies,but will also foster sporting culture and diversity in the university community.HKUST has been giving out scholarships,support and recognition to our student athletes for many years.We wish this collaboration could strengthen our support for young athletes in Hong Kong.”Prof.King Chow added,“Working closely together,both HKUST and HKSI would endeavor to help elite athletes balance their education and training needs in the best possible way.”After the signing ceremony,Hong Kong athletes Edith LEE,Rachel WONG and James YUEN shared their study experience at HKUST and the kind of help an athlete desires.Edith Lee,an archery athlete and aYear three student majoring in Computer Science and Engineering,is now taking leave from study.She said the gap year arrangement gave her space and confidence in pursuing her sporting dream.She is also thankful for the competition sponsorships offered by the University,which helps relieve her financial burden.Rachel Wong,a gymnast and Year four student majoring in Biological Science,said the admission arrangement and chance for conditional offer could help high school athletes in lifting part of their pressure from preparing for public examinations,hence,they are able to concentrate more on sports trainings and competitions.Meanwhile,James Yuen,a HKSI Scholarship Athlete in Wushu and aYear one student in the School of Business and Management,said that academic accommodation such as adjustments on the credit loading for each semester is essential as it allows athletes to have more time in preparing for competitions and related selections. 查看详细>>

The School of Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology(HKUST)today(December 4,2018)announced its plan to turn“experiential learning”courses into compulsory courses for 800 Year 1undergraduate students in two to three years’time.All engineering students will have to build an engineering artifact to acquire multidisciplinary knowledge that suits what society needs.Prof.Tim CHENG,Dean of Engineering,said,“There is an increasing market need for engineering talents with knowledge across different engineering disciplines instead of one particular discipline.We therefore hope that by working on an innovative artifact using their own hands,our students can become engineers with multidisciplinary knowledge and problem-solving ability.Our vision is that our students will be able to cope with technology changes and continue to innovate no matter what roles they play in society throughout their long career after graduation.”HKUST School of Engineering officially introduced“experiential learning”six years ago.Each year,around 180 Year 1students enrol in the First Year Cornerstone Engineering Design Project Course,and around 130 students,with the guidance of their professors,participate in local and overseas engineering design competitions.These students have to design and build an engineering artifact,such as an airship,a smart car and an underwater robot.The School is planning to require all Year 1engineering students to enrol in an“experiential learning”course in two to three years,so that they will acquire multidisciplinary knowledge and hands-on experience.To tie in with the application of“experiential learning”to the School’s curriculum,the School has created an“Undergraduate Student-initiated Experiential Learning Lab”(USEL Lab)that is open to students’use around the clock.The lab is areconfigurable learning environment that performs the functions of adesign studio,a prototyping studio and ademonstration studio,etc.and is furnished with equipment such as alaser cutting machine,a high-efficiency 3D scanner and amotion capture system.It is operated and managed by senior engineering students who serve as“student technical advisors”.A“Dream Team Open Lab”has also been launched recently to allow more student groups to build their projects for competitions.“The shift to amore student-oriented approach and having students learn by creating and doing in engineering education is aglobal trend.As ayoung university,HKUST is willing to introduce daring education innovations.The School of Engineering has put alot of resources and talents into developing‘experiential learning’,and is dedicated to maintaining our leadership role in engineering education innovation,”Prof.Cheng added. 查看详细>>

Partnering with Macquarie University,HKUST Entrepreneurship Center has launched its very first Sydney-Hong Kong Ideation Exchange Program from July 9to July 21.Together with their peers from Macqurie University,10 UST students were chosen to have the opportunity to spend one week in Sydney,one week in Hong Kong,and aday in China to examine new market entry,scaling up,and prototyping in those places.Students also had to apply what they learned from the tour to put together apitch helping Small-Medium sized Enterprises digitalizing their businesses.The tour was kicked off by acampus tour and avisit to the Cochlear Headquarters at Macquarie University.The company manufactures cochlear implants,bone conduction implants,acoustic hearing implants and provides arange of support services for the recipients of its products.To understand better about the startup scene in Sydney,our students visited the Sydney Startup hub,a globally significant innovation centre that cements the city‘s role as Australia‘s startup capital.The tour was greeted by representatives from Optus.Our students got the chance to present their ideas for the very first time and got some valuable feedback from their peers and the representatives. 查看详细>>

The School of Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology(HKUST)is launching anew undergraduate program in Bioengineering that offers students the opportunity to conduct research in elite overseas universities,and at the same time nurtures leaders in biomedical technology and big data in support of the Hong Kong government’s focused effort to spearhead the development of these fields.Prof Ying Chau,Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Coordinator in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering,said,“The Bioengineering Program takes amolecular-level perspective to tackle healthcare issues.For instance,the curriculum contains modules on biomaterials design,pharmaceutical engineering,and genome analysis.”The Bioengineering Program is taught by anumber of rising stars in bioengineering research who are at the forefront of innovation.Prof Angela Wu,Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering,is designing microfluidic devices that can capture and manipulate cells for different purposes including single-cell genomic analysis.While each microfluidic device can be used to investigate cells from avariety of organisms including bacteria,animals,and plants,one of Prof Wu’s main research focuses is studying tumor initiation in human beings,with the goal of understanding and preventing cancer.Prof Terence Wong,Assistant Professor in the same Department,is developing anovel microscope that can determine whether any cancer cells remain in acancer patient after an initial resection within minutes.This is atremendous improvement on the current pathological procedures,which typically take as much as aweek,resulting in some cases in the need of performing asecond surgery to remove the remaining cancer cells.Both Prof Wu and Prof Wong are making asignificant difference to human health.The Bioengineering Program will be launched in the Fall Semester in 2018.Students have to register for the HKUST Engineering program(JUPAS catalog no.:JS5200)within the JUPAS program choices modification period(July 12-14)in order to get into the major.Prof Ying Chau said,“We take tremendous pride in offering this Bioengineering Program,as we are putting students on the cutting edge of engineering research,and preparing them for significant contributions to mankind.” 查看详细>>

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology(HKUST)announced its partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC),covering research collaboration and arange of activities which include workshops and an exclusive traineeship program,to facilitate humanitarian work at the global arena and enhance HKUST students’global vision through experiential learning.Under the partnership,HKUST faculty and students will work with anew department at ICRC–set up specifically to facilitate research cooperation with external organizations like HKUST,on aresearch project to quantify the economic impact of humanitarian intervention in developing countries.A trainee position will also be designated exclusively to HKUST students–a popular position usually open for global competition,at ICRC’s Geneva headquarters for the first time.The selected candidate–a highly-motivated individual with excellent communication skills and passion in humanitarian work,will be able to work for afull year with the three-time Nobel Peace Prize winning institution,assisting on its diplomatic relations issues with donors and collaborators spanning state representatives and senior management of global corporations.To give HKUST students ataste of the every-day challenges met by humanitarian field agents,ICRC also organized aone-day simulation workshop–first one organized by ICRC in Asia,in February,containing interactive discussions,presentations and role-play exercises.Ms Helen Wong,Associate Director(Co-curricular Programs)and Program Director of HKUST Connect of Student Affairs Office at HKUST said the arrangement offers an unprecedented opportunity to the students of the university.“It is indeed aprivilege to establish this partnership with avery unique international humanitarian organization that is in aclass of its own.The partnership provides aplatform for impactful and global engagement not just for our students,but also for our faculty,staff and alumni.”The partnership is the latest initiative by HKUST Connect–a community engagement program of the University aims to deepen student learning and raise civil awareness through sustainable partnership with the wider community.Faculty and staff were also engaged in these activities to facilitate their commitment to education with apublic purpose.Mr Jason Yip,Regional Head of Market from Resource Mobilization Division–Government Affairs and Donor Relations of ICRC said,“This traineeship allows students in Asia to have direct and concrete experience in the international humanitarian organization.ICRC hopes to see more young professionals in the region joining the organization.”Rachel Huang–a final-year student in Global Business and Operations Management,who obtained the position after rounds of interviews,will commence the internship in mid-June. 查看详细>>