CUHK
News Centre

Under the impact of the pandemic for more than a year, a number of industries in Hong Kong have suffered severe setbacks. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) established the CU RElief Fund (CURE Fund) last year to provide support and assistance to students and colleagues who are adversely affected by the pandemic, and hopes to improve the resilience of members of the University and work with them to meet current and future challenges. The senior management team set an example and donated portions of their salaries to the Fund. Together with the generous support from staff members, alumni and friends of the University, the Fund has raised about HK$ 7.7 million and created over 300 employment and internship opportunities for students in need, graduates in the last two years, and staff in junior posts. Over the past year, more than 230 members of the University benefited from the CURE Fund.

In the 2020/21 academic year, the CURE Fund has provided the following relief measures:

(1)     Summer Work-Study Scheme for Students: About 50 full-time undergraduate students, having a demonstrated need for financial assistance due to the adverse effect of COVID-19, were provided with on-campus internship.

(2)    Summer Internship Opportunities: Collaborating with various organisations, more than 120 full-time undergraduate students were provided with 8-week full-time internships with allowance.

(3)      Short-term Working Experience for Graduating Class and Alumni: More than 30 graduating students of the class of 2020 and alumni of the class of 2019 were provided with short-term paid on-campus jobs, most of which lasted for six months.

(4)    Career opportunities for 2019 and 2020 graduates: The Fund has solicited support from various organisations to offer career opportunities for young CUHK graduates.

(5)     Interest-free Emergency Loan for Staff in Junior Posts: More than 20 full-time staff in junior posts were provided interest-free emergency loans to ease their financial difficulties.

Biochemistry Year 2 student Philip Po, who participated in the Summer Work-Study Scheme last year, said, “The disastrous COVID-19 pandemic not only caused death, but also brought unemployment and family problems to the world. As a part-time private tutor, my hours of work fell sharply due to the preventive measures, as did my income. Relying on the CURE Fund offered from the CUHK not only sustained my basic living, but also helped me contribute other useful skills to different departments in CUHK. It was my pleasure to help my college to do the photography job in a Graduate Portraits Project. Thank you CURE Fund.”

Tommy Tang, a Year 4 Anthropology student who was a student intern from CU RElief Fund Summer Internship 2020, said, “Under the arrangement by the CUHK CURE Fund, I worked as a global operations summer intern for a logistics freight forwarding firm for eight weeks. I had to make every effort to learn and gain experience because I knew it was a golden intern offer in a bleak period. I was quite worried initially about whether I could complete the tasks assigned to me during the internship since I studied anthropology and had no idea about the logistics industry or even general business. Fortunately, my supervisor and teammates arranged regular training for me to catch up on the basic knowledge of the logistics industry. More importantly, I have learnt what attitude I should adopt in the business world. My job was to assist in managing the global supply chain operations of high-profile clients, including quotation, schedule planning for the ocean and air shipments, shipping documents audits, as well as daily coordination with cross-functional teams and clients on providing the best client solutions. This practical experience has helped improve my global exposure, communication and problem-solving skills and it will be beneficial for whatever industries I am engaged in in the future.”