Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

Recruiting M a i n l a n d S t u d e n t s • Op e n i ng up CUHK Unde r g r adua te Programmes to Ma i n l and Talent The SAR government has called u p on all tertiary institutions to recruit academically able students f r om the mainland to read undergraduate programmes in H o n g Kong. The Chinese University also feels it her responsibility to encourage greater interaction between talents f r om the t wo places. To this end, a wo r k i ng group was set u p i n 1997 to make arrangements t o recruit undergraduates fromthe mainland. It was subsequently decided that applicants to C U HK have to be students already accepted for enrolment b y either Fudan University or Peking University, w h o w i l l help w i t h the initial screening process. Representatives f r om The Chinese Universit y w i l l then go to Beijing and Shanghai to conduct interviews w i t h the selected students. The first batch of ma i n l an d students admitted i n 1998 are graduating this summer. The Bulletin has talked to three of them about their experience at the University. Xu Guyun Economics major Xu Guyun was originally admitted as a law student to Fudan University. Guyun, who double-minors in information technology and computer science, so explains his choice of economics: 'Prof. Sunny Kwong of the Department of Economics showed a lot of charisma when he was talking about economics. That sparked my interest in the subject. I also like abstract thinking. Economics requires a lot of that, but unlike philosophy, it has more direct practical application. ' Most of his time at the University has been spent on homework, lessons, and reading newspapers. And he is indeed a very serious reader of newspapers. Once he went into his teacher's office complaining that he could not understand the finance pages of the newspaper. The teacher told him, 'Don't worry. What you know is far more advanced than what the newspaper carries. It's only natural that you don't understand.' An active sportsman, Guyun spent his f i r st year soaking up th e social life on campus, his second year seriously studying, and his third year looking for a career direction. He applied for admission to graduate programmes both in the US and in Britain, but has just decided to take up a job offer from a big airline company in Hong Kong. 20