Dear readers,

February is the election month within the student community.  Campus-wide polls are being held for the general election of many student unions and all student senators.  On the generally tranquil school-days, a range of electioneering activities has come into view. Policy platforms, ballot boxes and polling stations are everywhere.  In rare unison, newspapers from both sides of the political aisle have expressed astonishment towards the keen competition between two cabinets in our University for running the central student union.  They define it very unusual amidst the low ebb of student movement nowadays.  In many other tertiary institutions, there are no candidates for the office of student unions this year.

The 3^rd session of A Walk in Community with I·CARE in this academic year will take place next month.  Participants will be led by the "Ethnic Minority Cultural Ambassadors" from WEDO GLOBAL to visit the ethnic minority community in Yuen Long.  They will get to know how the daily life of this community has changed since their immigration to Hong Kong and the difficulties they have been encountering due to language barrier.

The Cross-generational Integration Programme organised by this Centre aims at promoting mutual understanding and respect across different generations particularly senior citizens and young people.  The first part of this progamme has been scheduled for 17 March 2019 on which 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.  Volunteers for this event are now wanted with details as follows:

The 4^th I·CARE Book Festival — Reading is Voyaging through Time and Space is aspired to foster a culture of literacy on campus, and to connect different CUHK people through sharing of books.

The 4^th I·CARE Book Festival — Reading is Voyaging through Time and Space organised by this Centre has received staunch support from the CUHK community and the general public.  During the last couple of weeks, over 20,000 second-hand books were collected.  The response is overwhelming.

Jointly organised by the University Physical Education Unit, Communications and Public Relations Office and this Centre, the CUHK 10K Night Challenge 2019 will be held on 8 March (Friday) at 6:30 pm at Pak Shek Kok Promenade, Shatin.  This event comprises two types of entries for advanced runners (10 km) and beginners (4 km) respectively.  The former race is further divided into three categories namely students (men and women), staff (men and women), and alumni (men and women); and the top 10 of each category will be awarded a prize.  The beginners' entry is not a race per se and welcomes all CUHK people to join.

The I·CARE Salon, which is under the University Lecture on Civility, had its 15^th session successfully held on 25 January.  Dr. Derrick Au shed light on the relation between biomedical technology and human ethics in his talk Gene-edited Babies - The Haunting Questions through the controversial He Jiankui Incident occurred last year.

Yunus Social Business Centre@CUHK, which is a subsidiary of this Centre, will organise two sessions of S.I. Leaders Sharing.  Three business starters will talk about the social problems of their concern and what have intrigued them to exercise social innovation.  They will also shed light on the modus operandi of their social enterprises and the challenges they have encountered throughout.  Details are as follows:

Co-organised by this Centre and The Office of the Arts Administrator, the I·CARE Theatre 2019 had its second screening of a Wong Kar-wai's classic, Days of Being Wild, held on the 11^th of this month.  The screening attracted attendance of hundreds of CUHK students, staff and alumni.

The 36 CUHK students enrolled in the I·CARE Hong Kong Cultural Tours Project as docents had thoughtfully designed the theme-based tours during the past two months.  Topics for the tours of this academic year are finally confirmed as follows:

The 30 core group members of the I·CARE Achievers Programme took part in three induction activities and the 3-day-2-night Remoulding Camp in the 1^st term to get prepared for the completion of different challenging tasks ahead.  One of the tasks is dividing all members into four small teams by their own interest to organise hiking, marathon, farming and camping events for other CUHK students.  Each small team has been assigned with a mentor.

Launched by this Centre in 2015-16, the Social Enterprise Startup Scheme has been encouraging CUHK students and recent graduates to make good use of their expertise to establish or expand social enterprises.  Participants of the scheme will be enrolled in a mentorship programme through which valuable advice on formulating business plan and practical skills of running an enterprise will be offered by experienced alumni in a one-on-one manner.  The horizon and business network of participants are also expected to be widened.  With the CUSE Fund set up under the scheme, participants will be able to create sustainable social impact on the society.

This Centre has been supporting the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Hong Kong, which is jointly hosted by CUHK and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.  Many activities and services of us have achieved the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations.

Please click on the image below for more information.