16 March 2018

HSMC organised the President Forum cum Founders’ Day Ceremony and Reception to celebrate its eighth anniversary on 16 March 2018. The President Forum, with the theme “The Future of Liberal Arts Education in a Globalised Context”, provided an excellent opportunity for academics, teachers, policy makers, employers, students, parents and the general public to learn more about the essence of modern liberal arts education as well as the role and future development of private liberal arts institutions in the region. Professor Simon S M Ho, President of HSMC, and Professor Jeffrey S Lehman, Vice Chancellor of NYU Shanghai and former President of Cornell University, shared their views as Forum speakers.

Dr Moses Cheng, Chairman of HSMC College Council, expressed his gratitude to President Lehman for joining the President Forum and highlighted in his welcome remarks the various achievements of HSMC since its inception in 2010 and introduced the HSMC Strategic Plan 2018-2023.

President Forum
In his speech titled “The Unique Roles of Private Liberal Arts Institutions in the Region”, President Ho shared with the audience concepts and values of liberal arts education, characteristics and impact of US liberal arts institutions and the challenges they face, the future of liberal arts education and institutions in the region and how HSMC has positioned itself for the future.

President Lehman, in his sharing titled “Higher Education for a Cosmopolitan Age of Smart Machines”, pointed out the traditions of liberal education are, with suitable modifications, exceedingly well suited to ensuring that today’s students develop the knowledge, skills, and virtues they will need to thrive in the decades ahead. He identified five critical qualities which the next generation of young adults, that is, the “iGen” or the “i-Generation” should develop during their college years: algorithmic thinking, critical analysis, creativity, social perceptiveness and the ability to persuade.

Founders’ Day Ceremony
A launching ceremony was held for HSMC’s three new research/learning centres: Wu Jieh Yee Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Institute for Youth Sustainability Leadership and Centre for Greater China Studies. The establishment of these centres demonstrates HSMC’s proactiveness to tie in with current social and economic developments, and to provide more teaching and learning resources for teachers and students. Souvenirs were presented to two recent donors for their generous support to HSMC: Mr Jason Wu, Governor of Wu Jieh Yee Charitable Foundation and Ms Stella Fung, Managing Director of Beijing Tong Ren Tang Fook Ming Tong Chinese Medical Centre.

Presentation of three major scholarships was held to recognise students’ outstanding performance, including Entrance Scholarship (Scheme 1) for academic year 2017/18, President’s Scholarship for academic year 2017/18, and HSBC Hong Kong Scholarships 2016/17.

HSMC Founders’ Day Ceremony concluded with a toast. Ms Rose Lee, Chairman of the Board of Governors, expressed her gratitude to donors in her thank-you note and wish the College every success in its mission to become “a private university with a difference”.