HKUST 2006-2007 Annual Report
57
H
KUST
enjoys increasingly close ties with the Mainland. These ties are fostered
through collaborations not only in the field of education, but also through the
provision of expertise that helps official programs and projects reach full potential
and aids companies in their growth plans.
The University has underlined its commitment to China’s future by siting its fifth
School – the HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School — at Nansha in Guangzhou.
The establishment of the HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School is a key component
in HKUST’s drive to advance technological education and innovation in this part of
the world. Its mission - to aid technological advancements in Hong Kong and the
Pearl River Delta (PRD) through post-graduate education and by directly helping
industry with advanced technology — is also central to the University’s commitment
to help our nation’s advance into the global economy.
At the same time we act as a magnet for top Mainland students. Many now see
HKUST as the best place to go for higher learning. This year we admitted top
scorers in the Mainland Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE) from Beijing, Guangdong
and Sichuan whose results qualified them for admission to the top 10 Mainland
universities. They were joined by 40 first or second class winners of international or
national competitions in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and informatics.
In 2006-07, we admitted about 170 undergraduate students from the Mainland.
The School of Business and Management alone received 3,500 applications for
43 places.
This breaking of old borders was accompanied by further progress in the
development of undergraduate exchange programs with top Mainland institutions.
First started in 2003, these have now been extended to 10 leading universities:
Fudan, Harbin, Nanjing, Peking, Shanghai Jiaotong, Sun Yat-sen, Tsinghua, Xi’an,
Zhejiang and the University of Science & Technology of China.
This year HKUST took part for the first time in the Mainland’s Challenge Cup
Business Plan Competition held at Shandong University which attracted entries from
100 institutions. Our team came away with the gold award.
Since our establishment, we have strengthened our links through:
•
Cooperative agreements with eight universities on the Mainland and one in
Taiwan, as well as the Chinese Academy of Sciences
•
Major research projects led by faculty members under the National “973”
Fundamental Research Program
•
Membership of the Association of University Presidents of China
•
Collaboration in the innovative PKU-HKUST Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institution
— Industry, Education and Research (IER) — for executive education, R&D and
entrepreneurship; and the Shenzhen PKU-HKUST Medical Center
