Bulletin No. 2, 2020

24 Chinese University Bulletin No.2, 2020 Photo by adalam@cuhkimages & maymui@cuhkimages Wong Suk-ying Associate Vice-President and Director of Admissions and Financial Aid ‘In recent years, CUHK has been the institution selected by the most JUPAS candidates as their first choice. The physical campus, with its shrubs and streams, is our edge that makes students see us as an ideal place of learning, but we cannot re-create these features online.’ Wong said the closeness of teachers and students that is so conducive to the University’s hallmark whole-person education is another advantage. Without face-to-face contact, the University might appear in a lesser light to those who have never spent a day on its campus. There were uncertainties to be overcome in constructing a virtual campus, and the Information Day saw a mishap as well. Peak hours were in the morning. After 10:30 am, the server of the American company was down and all live talks were disrupted. The team called the company to fix it right away, and everything worked again at 11 am. ‘I was a bit touched by this. Despite the glitch, we were not inundated by urgent or angry telephone calls, no one pointed a finger, and no participants even mentioned this in the survey afterwards. Having been teaching online for some time, the professors are used to glitches and hiccups. However rosy students may have made the world out to be, they accept it may not be a perfect place,’ Wong confessed. The Information Day was a marathon of 270+ live webinars and 150 Q&A sessions. ‘For an event of such magnitude, did all the participating units work together?’ I asked, not without a sense of mischief. ‘I must say—’ The answer that followed was as unexpected as it was expected, ‘Colleagues were all so very understanding and cooperative. They worked hard not just for the outcome.’ Visitors to the Information Day, especially HKDSE candidates, usually spend the most time touring the academic departments. ‘But the nine Colleges and non- academic units, such as the I·CARE Centre and the Office of Academic Links, also put in their all. The responses were so overwhelming that our virtual houses were full and we had to split the last house for three departments to share.’ Before the Information Day, Wong’s team organized a series of workshops to illustrate how the virtual platform operates. ‘Colleagues were meticulous and patient, squeezing every bit of detail out of us. The administrative staff practised and rehearsed with the professors to make sure everything goes according to plan on the day,’ she said. Virtual events are good because they have far-reaching impact. A student from Africa enquired in detail about the curriculum and the local education system. On the other hand, the Information Day also summoned teachers and students’ creative prowess. ‘In the past,