“I never thought the Welcoming Ceremony for new students would be so warm and so much fun,” said Qu Xiaochen, a first-year student from Shanghai entering the Department of Information Systems. The first Welcoming Ceremony of CityU’s Student Orientation 2004 was held 24 August in the Chan Tai Ho Multi-purpose Hall for the attended 1,100 new full-time students in the Faculty of Business, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Science and Engineering, the School of Law and the School of Creative Media. Having registered in mid-August, they are now officially university students, ready to embark on a completely new life.

 “Whether you know it or not, you have come to a university of quality,” said Professor H K Chang, CityU President, welcoming the students. “The more you get to know CityU, the more quality you will find. But you have to give yourself the time to appreciate it.” Professor Chang urged the students to make the best use of CityU’s advanced information technology infrastructure and multi-cultural learning opportunities. “No matter what field you are in, IT skills and the ability to work and communicate in a multicultural environment will help you meet the challenges of the future. If you waste these opportunities, you will probably soon regret it.”

 

Professor Edmond Ko, CityU’s Vice-President (Undergraduate Education) and Dean of Students, and Kelvin Chan, President of the Students’ Union, greeted the new students in an eight-minute video and again in person immediately after. “We want to use a more lively approach to demonstrate to our new schoolmates how different university life is,” Chan said. “The most important message to new students is, I think, to help them believe in CityU and make the most of it,” he added. (Note: The website "Messages from the Dean of Students" has been launched on the first day of term. You can access it vai the e-Portal under the My Learning Tab.)

 In his address, Professor Ko invited the students to communicate with him through a new on-line channel. “Rather than telling you what I think a new university student should learn here, I will post 12 articles on the Web next week to share my thoughts with you. I hope you will share your thoughts with me via email or at our gathering in the near future.”

 

Having begun with a video footage of CityU’s Musical City Legend, the Ceremony ended with a choir performing one of the songs from the musical. This brought an enthusiastic response from everyone. “I was deeply touched when we sang along with the choir,” said Ng Wing Man, a freshman in the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics (CTL). “The music, the lyrics and the slogan of Orientation -- ‘Whole Person Achiever – Your ambition,’ make me look forward to my new life at CityU. It also makes me aspire to do well in the next three years, to lay down a solid foundation for my career and my future role in society,” she added.

 

Following the Welcoming Ceremony, many of the students were received by individual faculties, schools and departments for additional orientation activities. A variety of other orientation and induction programmes have also been organized by the Student Development Services, Computing Services Centre, the Library, and other units to help the new students adapt to CityU life. The Welcoming Ceremony for students from the Community College of City University (CCCU) and the Division of Building Science and Technology takes place August 25. The following day, the University will hold the Welcoming Ceremony for CCCU students from Telford Annex. For 2004-05, more than 10,000 new undergraduate and postgraduate students joined the CityU family.