Newsletter No. 154

Faculty of Education Formalizes Collaboration wi th School Sector The Centre for University and School Partnership was officially inaugurated on 3rd November. The centre, established by the Faculty of Education, w i ll tap the know-how of educationalists at CUHK and cooperate with the school sector in Hong Kong to find practical solutions to problems related to teaching and learning, and engineer strategies for improvement at kindergarten, primary, and secondary levels, t h r ough research, i nno v a t i on, and experimentation. The centre w i l l also gene r a te mo d e ls i n knowledge transfer for future university-school partnership schemes. O f f i c i a t i ng at the inauguration ceremony of the centre were Mrs. Fanny Law, Director of Education of the HKSAR government, Mr. Tai Hay-lap, member of the Education Commission, and Prof. A r t hur K . C. L i, vice- c h a n c e l l or o f t he University. From left: Prof. Stephen Chung, dean of education, Mr. Tai Hay-lap, Mrs. Fanny Law, Prof. Arthur Li, and Prof. Leslie Lo, director of the Hong Kong Institute of Educational Research United College Celebrates 43th Anniversary A ceremony to mark the forty-third anniversary of United College was held on 22nd October at Sir Run Run Shaw Hall. Mr. Shum Choi Sang, chairman of the United College Board of Trustees, and The Honourable Ms. Elsie Leung, Secretary for Justice of the HKSAR government, officiated at the ceremony and addressed the assembly. They also presented prizes to the college's students. Shortly after the ceremony, the official opening of the Shum Choi Sang U n i t ed Co l l e ge A r c h i v es and an anniversary party took place on the college campus. The archives contain over 190 items i nc l ud i ng documents, letters, bu l l e t i ns, photographs, newspaper cuttings, prizes and souvenirs collected through the years. At the anniversary party, the college's Kung Fu Club performed a lion dance and a 40-pound birthday cake donated by the college staff association was cut. This was f o l l owed by an anniversary luncheon held at the Staff C o mm o n R o om attended by trustees, donors, alumni, staff members, and other guests. In the evening over a t housand guests and students a t t e n d e d t h e traditional Thousand People's Feast held by United students on t he c o l l e ge campus. From left: Prof. Wong Kwan-yiu, head of United College, Ms. Elsie Leung, M r . and Mrs. Shum Choi Sang Centre for the Advancement of E-Commerce Technologies Opens The Centre for the Advancement of E-Commerce Technologies (AECT) was officially set up on campus by the Faculty of Engineering on 4th November. With state-of-the-art facilities and expertise from the Faculty of Engineering, AECT will assume a crucial role in the advancement of e-commerce technologies and applications. It will conduct basic and applied research in major areas of e-commerce technologies, which include the Internet and information systems technologies, and enterprise solutions technologies. A major focus of the centre's activities is to develop 'E-Commerce Pilots' with local firms that are committed to adopting e-commerce technologies and setting up business operations on the Internet. Such pilot projects include: • Integrated Trading Environment Project, with The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC); • E-Banking and Smartcard Project, with Citibank, Hong Kong; and • Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and Strong Cryptography Project, with Hong Kong Post. The centre was made possible by the generous sponsorship of various business corporations including The Oracle Systems Hong Kong Limited and the Sun Microsystems of California Limited. Officiating at the opening ceremony of theAECTwere Mr. Chau Tak Hay, the Secretary for Trade and Industry of the government, Prof. Arthur K.C. Li, vice-chancellor of CUHK, Mr. Arics Poon of Oracle Systems Hong Kong Limited, and Mr. Danny Tam of The Sun Microsystems of California Limited. HIV-related Research Wins Support The Council for the AIDS Trust Fund recently approved two grants in support of HIV- related research at the University: • Behavioural Surveillance of the Sexually Related Behaviours of the General Chinese Female Population in Hong Kong (HK$333,000) Principal investigator: Dr. Joseph Lau, Centre for Clinical Trials and Epidemiological Research • Compliance with Complex Medication Regimes in HIV/AIDS Patients (HK$345,326) Principal investigator: Prof. Alexander Molassiotis, Department of Nursing Chung Chi College Celerates 48th Anniversary C hung Chi College organized a series of celebratory events jointly with its student union to celebrate its forty- eighth anniversary in October. Highlights included the Founders' Day Thanksgiving Service and the Thousand People's Feast on 29th October. Prof. Chen Te, former professor at the Department of Philosophy and Chung Chi College Dean of General Education, was invited to be the guest speaker at the thanksgiving service. The traditional Thousand People's Feast, now in its 23rd year, was held at the Lingnan Stadium and was attended by an impressive number of students, staff, and alumni. Meanwhile the College Student Union organized a Student Festival which included a carnival, a tug-of-war, a round-the-campus run, a dance competition, a singing contest, and a cooking competition. Prof . Chen Te