Students, colleagues, parents:
Thank you.
A very warm welcome to ALL of you: students, faculty, staff - members
of this HKUST family.
We are gathered here today to celebrate you: students and parents
who have chosen this University; faculty and staff who have decided
to join us; and all of you who have worked so hard to make this University
a very special place.
This joyous day is also the very first day of my new life in Hong
Kong and at UST. I am not new to Hong Kong of course, because I am
a Hong Konger by birth and finished Form 7 before I left for the
US. What an emotional homecoming this is! For me as it is for you,
this day begins a new year - a new chapter of hopes and plans that
opens up a whole new world, and promises of lifelong friendships.
This new year is full of challenges as well. It is almost impossible
to fill the shoes of my predecessors Professors Chia-Wei Woo and
Paul Chu, who have birthed this University and put us on the world
map. But I know I can count on the support of my VPs, Deans and members
of the faculty and staff to drive this University to greater heights
of achievement. Together we will continue to build it into an institution
of which we and future generations can be immensely proud.
This is also a time of unprecedented change, when the world is reeling
from a global crisis - a crisis that is felt in every corner of the
earth. The entire world's attention is now focused on China - not
just looking for markets or cheap labor, but for inspiration, talents,
and new ideas. We in Hong Kong are in a unique position to participate
in that spectacular growth, spearhead the new knowledge revolution,
and nurture new talents.
What other place in the world offers more exciting opportunities
for growth, for expansion and for change than Hong Kong, and what
better place to try out new ideas than HKUST?
Hong Kong's landscape of higher education is changing at a pace
unimaginable just 5 years ago. As a young university, we have the
flexibility, the openness, and the impulse for creativity that mark
our special character. As a latecomer, we made an imprint on Hong
Kong and we shall continue to impact the way university education
and research are carried out.
As university students, you have the freedom and the responsibility
to make independent decisions: to choose your classes, your course
of study, your daily schedule, your friends, your future path in
life. Through your participation in class and in activities, you
will contribute to the making of a great university that will in
turn make this city of Hong Kong the wonder of the world.
As faculty and staff, we have the opportunity to fashion university
education as we have always dreamed it, just as we have benefitted
from great institutions of learning before. It is incumbent upon
us to seize this golden opportunity of 334 to make Hong Kong's education
among the finest in the world.
The time is ripe for us to sharpen the special role of science and
technology in Hong Kong, where, combined with our managerial expertise
and entrepreneurial spirit, with human insight and social understanding,
we shall jointly tackle the global grand challenges and educate a
new generation of students for this challenge.
As your president, I shall work with you all to bring to this University
the quality promised and entrusted to us by the people of Hong Kong.
It is rumored in some quarters that UST is the "University
of Stress & Tension". I would like to see it become a University
of Success and Triumph - a place that puts student learning first,
that nurtures, encourages and celebrates knowledge, humanity, social
responsibility and success, a place where science, technology, arts,
culture, ingenuity and the entrepreneurial spirit triumph.
Thank you and welcome to HKUST! |
