"Every summer, CU Link Card Centre is busy in preparing for the card issuance to freshmen. In this summer, over 10,900 CU Link cards would need to be produced, among which over 3,500 cards would even need to be ready within 3 to 5 days for undergraduates," said Alice Kong, a staff of CU Link Card Centre. "To ensure all the cards can be produced on time, we recruited student helpers to assist us."

"At the time our freshmen's registrations are verified and their records are created in CUSIS, we are also getting ready for card issuing process," added Alice. The card issuing process involves a series of steps. First, our staff retrieves new students' data from CUSIS and makes the data available in a card printer for further process.

Then, a raw CU Link card is inserted into the card printer for application loading – the printer encodes and loads a student's data into the chips, so that the card carries useful data for one accessing various University services and facilities.

After that, the card moves along a miniature conveyor belt to get printed with the student's information, including name, student ID, photo, programme admitted, college and expiry date on its surface. The card is then laminated with a protective coating to prolong the lifespan of the card, and finally output from the printer.

Card Centre staff preparing for the data to be loaded in card printer	A raw CU Link	The card printer serves for application loading, printing and protective coat laminating.	A printed CU Link carrying useful data. To enhance security level, MIFARE Plus started to be used in CU Link contactless chips.

Finally, our staff goes through an inspection of quality and information verification for all the printed cards before they are sorted and made ready for distribution.

Final checking on the printed CU Link	Card sorting in progress

 

To know more about CU Link, please visit http://www5.cuhk.edu.hk/culink/ .