CityU confers honorary doctorates on three distinguished persons
Mirror Fung
City University of Hong Kong (CityU) conferred honorary doctoral degrees on , , GBS, OStJ, JP and in recognition of their significant contributions to education and the well-being of society at an awards ceremony held on 3 November. Dr Chung Shui-ming, University Pro-Chancellor, presided over the ceremony.
Mr Herman Hu Shao-ming, Council Chairman, and Professor Way Kuo, President, also attended the ceremony.
Addressing the congregation on behalf of the honorary graduates, Professor Haroche thanked CityU for the honour and talked about the responsibilities of education and research institutes.
“The foremost duty of our societies is to provide a good education for their people at all levels, from kindergarten to universities,” he said. “Graduate schools and research institutions around the world – City University of Hong Kong among them – are at the top of this educational pyramid and bear great responsibility to raise awareness among societies and political leaders about the issues we are facing. To teach science and support scientific research is necessary because the solutions to many of our problems will come from new discoveries and inventions.”
In his speech, Professor Kuo thanked the honorary graduates for joining CityU. “We are deeply honoured that these three eminent individuals will be joining the CityU family. Throughout their individual careers, they have made significant contributions to education and the well-being of society through their creative talent, ground-breaking innovations, and a deep concern for society. Innovation, creativity and humanistic concerns are similarly the core values that have been driving the dynamic development of CityU over the past nine years. They are the true essence of education.”
He then quoted from his poem to illustrate the importance of “soulware”, which is a type of culture, mentality, behaviour and thinking pattern:
“For the sustained development of society/ Soulware must be assessed if we wish to avoid empty talk,” he quoted.
