CUHK
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This year 25 undergraduate and graduate students of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) are honoured with Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowships, Scholarships, and Scholarships for Disabled Students 2008-09 — the most among local institutions. While the scholarship scheme aims at recognizing and encouraging academic achievements of the students, it also takes into consideration their intellectual qualities. This is in line with CUHK’s mission of providing whole-person education. Lo Kai-yin Eric, Year 4, Department of Music, and Sin Wing-man Maggie, Year 2, Medicine Programme, are two of the awardees of the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholarships. They both believe that whole-person education has advanced and diversified their personal development.

A science student in secondary school, Eric received 8As and 1B in the HKCEE and was admitted to CUHK via the Early Admissions Scheme. He said, ‘I thought about majoring in medicine, but interest prevailed in the end. I had been playing the piano since I was a child, so I was deeply interested in the elements of composition, music theory and music research of the CUHK music curriculum.’

Eric was surprised by the opportunities for learning provided by the University. To name a few, he said, ‘I took part in the College language tables and its service learning programme, which enabled me to go to Korea to introduce Hong Kong and China. For the general education courses, I took physics, Chinese philosophy and politics. I also received sponsorship to attend summer school at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where I studied music and the history of modern art. The most unforgettable experience was being an exchange student for a year at the University of Toronto (UT). In addition to music subjects, I could choose computer science, biology, geography, physics, etc.’

Coincidentally Maggie was also a student at UT, where she majored in neuroscience and psychology. But she chose to come back to Hong Kong, her birthplace. ‘I was debating whether I should further my studies or not after graduation. As I prefer interacting with people rather than doing research in the lab, medicine was a good choice. My father is an alumnus of CUHK. He encouraged me to apply to its medicine programme. So, I am here now.’

Maggie pointed out that CUHK provides more attractive extracurricular activities than UT. ‘The activities are more diverse. And students are more actively participating and organizing extracurricular activities. I have had the chance to meet students from different disciplines.’ There are quite a lot of opportunities for exchange too. Like Eric,
Maggie had the chance to take a summer course at UCLA, where she studied French and Spanish.

Maggie enjoys life and studies at CUHK. ‘We have both basic and clinical courses in Years 1 and 2. It is also a pleasure to study with my classmates. For example, two classmates and I initiated a self-financed voluntary service trip to welfare organizations in Pattaya such as an orphanage and a school for the blind last summer. We circulated a brief introduction leaflet to our classmates to recruit volunteers. Over 30 classmates signed up. It was beyond our imagination.’