Dear students,

In these weeks, the vocabulary which has repetitively buzzed around my ears is "artificial intelligence".  Yes, AI is everywhere!  No matter what popular topics, e.g. the Greater Bay Area development plan, the unicorn enterprises, the cross-border usage of national funds or the US sanction on ZTE, were talked about, AI won a place for itself and topped the list most of the time.  I think one of the reasons why we have got increasingly familiar with "BAT" is these big-name Chinese high-tech companies are investing heavily in AI nowadays - Baidu in automated driving, Alibaba in smart cities and Tencent in medical care.  Of course, the much-heralded propaganda to peddle the business growth and stock value of "BAT" has contributed a lot to the Hongkongers' enhancement of understanding of them.

To help prospective graduates prepare for career pursuance and further studies, the University will issue one gratis copy of the Report of Experiential Learning Activities (ELA Report) to graduates upon their request.

Founded in 2009 and guided by this Centre, the CUHK Wu Zhi Qiao Volunteer Team has been participating and organising numerous projects to improve livelihood of the rural areas in the Mainland.  These projects included construction of pedestrian bridges, survey of villages, and promotion of public health, etc.

This Centre set up the "CUSE Fund" in 2015-16 aiming to support CUHK students and alumni within 3 years from graduation in establishing or expanding their social enterprises.  Each successful applicant (on individual or group basis) will receive a maximum of HK$100,000 as seed money to actualise their business plans with social missions.  This year, three projects were funded.

The Yunus Social Business Centre@CUHK, which is a subsidiary of this Centre, organised the Social Business Regional Forum 2018 titled "Learning in Social Innovation" on 13 and 14 April.  Scholars, students and delegates of six tertiary institutions and three social innovation platforms from Hong Kong, the Mainland and Taiwan took part in the Forum to share their experience in the teaching and learning of social business/ enterprise and social innovation.  Students of the said localities also exchanged findings of their projects themed incubation platform for startup, helping the disadvantages as a goal, arts & cultures, environment conservation and community development respectively.  Field visits to the local social innovation projects, such as Good Lab, Good House and Translate for Her, were also incorporated in the Forum.  They helped the participants gain an understanding of the Hong Kong situation pertaining to social innovation.

Co-organised by this Centre and The Office of the Arts Administrator, the I·CARE Theatre has presented a fine selection of films under the theme "Glitter in the Gloom" since January.  Altogether six films were screened, and each of them attracted hundreds of audiences.

The I·CARE Salon under University Lecture on Civility had successfully staged three sessions in this term.  They included the 10^th one namely What is "Country" by Dr. Baldwin Wong, Lecturer of the General Education Foundation Programme, the 11^th one namely What is "Law" by Dr. Margaret Ng, a practicing barrister, and the 12^th one namely What is "Morality" by Dr. Alex Lo, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Philosophy.  These sessions drew an overall attendance of more than 500 people from and beyond CUHK to think over the topics concerned with the speakers.

Since January this year, CUHK and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust have joined hands to co-host the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Hong Kong (SDSN Hong Kong) which is under the umbrella of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.  Seeking to mobilise expertise, information and resources from academic, philanthropy, government, business and non-profits to address the most pressing environmental, social and economic issues in Hong Kong and advance sustainable development, SDSN Hong Kong welcomes this Centre, among other units in the University, to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). These goals include:

During coming summer holidays i.e. from now to August 2018, the eNewsletter of I·CARE Centre for Whole-person Development will be issued every two months.  The next one will then come to light on 22 July.  The monthly interval of issuance will resume normal in September 2018.