The Vice-Chancellor of The Chinese University of Hong Kong Prof. Lawrence J. Lau recently led a delegation to two world-leading universities in the US—UC Berkeley and Yale University. The delegation comprised scholars from four of the University's five areas of academic excellence, namely, Biomedical Sciences, Chinese Studies, Economics and Finance, and Information Sciences. The visit is part of the University's effort to promote its international status and foster research collaboration.
Senior officers from the two universities, including Chancellor Prof. Robert Birgeneau from UC Berkeley and President Prof. Richard Levin from Yale were most impressed by the outstanding research conducted at CUHK, in particular, research in circulating nucleic acids, epithelial cell biology, plant and agricultural biotechnology, network coding, and networked control.
Members of the CUHK delegation included Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof. Jack Cheng; Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Registrar Prof. Billy So; director of the Epithelial Cell Biology Research Centre Prof. Chan Hsiao Chang; director of the Institute of Plant Molecular Biology and Agricultural Biotechnology, and Master-Designate of the S. H. Ho College Prof. Samuel Sun; dean of the Graduate School Prof. Wong Wing-shing; chairman of the Department of History and head of Chung Chi College Prof. Leung Yuen-sang; chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and head of United College Prof. Fung Kwok-pui; and senior programme manager of the Office of Academic Links Ms. Shally Fan.
UC Berkeley and The Chinese University are long-time partners, with student exchange activities having taken place since 1965. The two also engage actively in collaborative research and teaching programmes in physics, social work and public health. Recently both became members of the East-West Alliance, an alliance of medical research faculties which will develop high-impact and educational projects to meet the challenges of population and emerging infections that threaten world health. The University of Cambridge and Stanford University are among some of the others in the alliance.
The Chinese University's connection with Yale pre-dates the establishment of the University, beginning with New Asia College. The presence of Yale on CUHK campus includes the Yale-China Association Office and the New Asia--Yale-in-China Chinese Language Centre. Student exchange between the two institutions has been taking place since 1993 through an annual short-term exchange programme. The two also have joint research in engineering, the humanities and sciences.