Dear readers,

A month ago, many of us were given an extra day off resulting from the class suspension/ office close after typhoon Mangkhut hurtled towards Hong Kong.  Did you utilise it to revise homework, to take a rest, or to strengthen the precautionary measures for the household?  As we are aware, some University members, like people working in security, medical, tourism, catering, logistics and social welfare sectors, needed to provide necessary service and urgent maintenance on that day despite the adverse weather conditions.  You may feel very grateful for their dedication, and be glad to see them being granted a token of thanks from the University afterwards.

This Centre is going to organise the Cross-generational Integration Programme in early 2019.  It aims at facilitating interaction between senior citizens and young people, so as to promote mutual understanding and respect across different generations.  On 17 March 2019, a group of elderly and secondary school students in the district nearby will be invited to attend mock lecture, facilities visit and graduation ceremony, etc. at CUHK to get a taste of university life.  CUHK students will then be received by the elderly in a two-day residential camp on 13 and 14 April 2019 to experience farming and Hakka entertainment.

Imagine the next economy where knowledge has no boundaries: we share, we collaborate, and we combat resource scarcity to assemble our own lives and to attain self-sufficiency.  Sounds impossible?  Not really.

The I·CARE Salon, which is under the University Lecture on Civility, had its 13^th session successfully held on 21 September.  Prof. Michel Bonnin shared his own experience and views of the movement in question, and exchanged with the audiences on The Rethink about the 1968 Student Revolt in France.

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) is intended for the betterment of our lives and living.  At the same time, it has brought about upheavals in our mind, value and identity, interpersonal connection, society and the world at large.  In a bid to reflect upon the unprecedented impact of the "Age of Digitalisation" on the humankind, this Centre has invited Dr. Chan Kai-tai* to preside a talk.  Details are as follows:

The Social Enterprise Startup Scheme under this Centre and the Yunus Social Business Centre@CUHK, which is a subsidiary of this Centre, are going to co-organise S.I. Leadership Workshops to encourage participants to advance existing services or products to meet social needs.  Through the workshops, participants will gain in-depth knowledge of the underprivileged and adopt people-oriented approach to address social challenges.  Details are as follows:

The "Fitness x Mentorship" Scheme associates "exercising" with "volunteering" to foster a serving heart of students and strengthen their understanding of the community.  Further to two sports items, namely running and hiking, introduced by the "Fitness x Mentorship" Scheme of this academic year, participants will learn playing bowling with the persons with hearing impairment in the community.  Not only the building up of healthy lifestyle is expected, but mutual understanding between students and their counterparts will also be facilitated.  Details are as follows:

The first round of Blood Donation Campaign in this academic year has been scheduled in October.  Given the positive response to the last "Blood and Book Giving - A Challenge of Blood Donation Relay" organised by this Centre, an identical one will be re-run while Hong Kong Red Cross sets up the blood donation point in the Multi-purpose Room, 5/F, Wong Foo Yuan Building on 29 October from 11:30 am to 6:30 pm.  Participants will not only help people who require blood transfusion, but also win a new book* donated and autographed by the author.  They include:

The Student Development Portfolio (SDP) is a university-wide electronic platform for capturing and presenting students' Experiential Learning Activities (ELA) under the whole-person development framework namely I·CARE.  Its major functions include viewing of ELA offered by various units of the University, updating and maintaining participation records, and producing ELA Report to showcase learning achievements.

Under the Social Enterprise Startup Scheme of this Centre, the 2017-18 "CUSE Fund" Award Presentation Ceremony and a briefing on the 2018-19 activities were held on 27 September.

The Yunus Social Business Centre@CUHK, which is a subsidiary of this Centre, organised a briefing on activities on 27 September.  It attracted attendance of over 40 CUHK students and alumni who are interested in social innovation.

Co-organised by this Centre and The Office of the Arts Administrator, the I·CARE Theatre - The Pristine Craze was held last week.  Altogether four selected local films were screened, which included Bright Spring Days, The Bridge, and The Umbrella under the "Fresh Wave" category and The Secret (Restored Version) under the "New Wave" category.  Hundreds of audiences were drawn in total.

The first session of A Walk in Community with I·CARE organised by this Centre was successfully held on 6 October.  The participating CUHK students went to Tin Zi Zok Wai, a community-based cooperation platform located at Tin Shui Wai, to learn about its daily operation.  They also visited two community economies in the locality, namely Tin Sau Bazzar and Herb Garden.  The former manifests itself as a community market offering affordable shopping choices for local residents, while the latter is a neighbourhood garden which encourages community planting and promotes environmental greening.  Participants also collaborated with members of Tin Zi Zok Wai to produce indigo-dyed handkerchiefs and cotton bags, and exchanged views on district economic issues.

Organised by this Centre, the I·CARE CUHK Campus Tour concluded after having been run for eight times in September.  The tours were led by eight well trained senior-year students using either Cantonese, Mandarin or English.  More than a hundred freshmen joined the tours to get to know the history of CUHK, to tour around the key buildings and facilities of the university, and to hear tips for a fulfilling university life.

A new version of I·CARE brochure was published last month.  This brochure mainly introduces the following six aspects of activities under the I·CARE Programme:

Please click on the image below for more information.