New University Produces its First Graduates

Abstract

[evdate 1993-06-10] Article for the Hong Kong Standard New University Produces its First Graduates by Sabine Harris The first group of postgraduate students from Hong Kong's newest university, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology will be graduating this June. Of the sixty students expected to graduate, those that decide to enter the job market should prove highly employable. The university, which first opened October 1991, aims to train manpower Hong Kong most needs expertise; business management. its doors to students in in precisely the areas that science, engineering, and Its state-of-the-art facilities and its world ranking faculty, gleaned from some of top universities in the world, serve to attract some of the best students in Hong Kong to study there. This year's Hong Kong Rhodes Scholarship recipient,.23 year old Mr Yip Kin is a postgraduate student at the university. _ 'r "Faculty and students are very close here. We feel free to discuss our ideas with them and this gives us the feeling that we are participating actively in the university," says Ng Kwai Kong I a Physics MSc student at HKUST. "For everything we have here, from the computer facilities to the library, we have adopted the most advanced version in the world. As companies update their operations our students will be able to bring their knowledge of state-of-the-art systems to bear," says Brian Cheng, a Student Counsellor at the university. "We have already had over 100 enquiries from companies interested in employing our students. Employers seem keen to give our graduates opportunities. They are interested to see just what sort of calibre of students this 'new kid on the block' of Hong - c Kong's tertiary institutes can produce." he continues. -* Students at HKUST are eager to prove their worth. "As first graduates we have a responsibility to show the quality that this University can produce. says Eddie Chow, We are ambassadors of the University," an MBA student at HKUST. Others comment that being a first student of a new university has been a very worthwhile experience. It has given them the opportunity to participate in the setting up of new facilities, and they have gainedvaluable hands-on experience in the process. Faculty are impressed by the degree of motivation and self reliance that students have displayed as they waited for new equipment to arrive and basic facilities to come on line. Pro- Dean Ernest Scalberg of the School bf Business and Management says of his graduating MBA students, "If companies canuse them properly, they will be path finders."