CUHK
News Centre

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) held a certificate presentation ceremony lately (9 November) to award a total of 280 students for their completion of internship offered by the Global Internship Programme.  The Global Internship Programme, organized by the Office of Student Affairs, has been developed to provide students with a diversity of internship and cultural exchange opportunities since 1997. 

‘The Chinese University takes pride in its international outlook and rich Chinese cultural heritage.  To keep pace with this ever-changing world, we aspire to nurture all-round leaders of tomorrow with professional knowledge and skills, a global vision as well as general wisdom for life,’ said CUHK Vice-Chancellor Prof. Joseph Sung at the ceremony.  ‘We believe that both the formal curriculum and non-formal education contribute to the overall quality and competitiveness of our students and graduates. To be able to go on internships outside Hong Kong is definitely a valuable experiential experience in non-formal education.  With this mission in mind, we endeavour to seek offshore internship opportunities for our students so that they can gain workplace experience and enhance cultural literacy well before their graduation.’ 

The programme this year is generously sponsored by Mr. Cheung Kung-hay, The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong Young Industrialists Council Foundation Limited, Mrs. Lai Chan Pui-ngong, Dr. and Mrs. Yeung Ming-biu and Mr. David York. With vigorous effort made, the University has solicited 100 more internship places this year with a total of 280 students, i.e. an increase of 56% in internship number.  Among them, 203 students interned in 14 mainland cities while 77 students received their internship training in major cities in 12 different countries. 

In addition to more common internships offered by companies from the business sector, the University has made an effort in seeking internship opportunities in other sectors to cater for students of diverse interests, e.g. the scientific research and technology field, cultural industry and non-commercial organizations.  Internships from various companies were solicited, including BGI, a scientific research institute in Shenzhen; hi-tech application companies in Nanjing; the cultural industry in Xi’an and non-commercial organizations on the mainland and in Singapore. 

An intern at BGI majoring in Molecular Biotechnology, Chan Yee Yan, now having her postgraduate studies in London, highly recommended the internship to Life Sciences students.  She stated, ‘BGI is a top bioinformatics institute both inside and outside of China, and has published in many top journals such as Nature and Science. As an intern there, they gave you a surprising amount of responsibilities, along with trust. I feel that I could truly use my knowledge in biotechnology.’ 

Leong Chi Fai Eric, a Year 4 Electronic Engineering student, worked in a technology company in Nanjing with focus on automatic doors of railways.  ‘I gained knowledge of the production and operation of railway doors and acquired experience of testing, programming and quality control of such doors.  The internship strengthened my interest in the railway industry,’ he said. 

The World Expo 2010 also offered interesting internship exposure to CUHK students.  Wong Chin Leung, a Year 3 History student who interned in Expo Group‧Shanghai Foreign Service Co., Ltd., said, ‘I went to the World Expo three times during the 4-week internship.  I assisted in arranging Expo trips for working partners of the organization and guiding them in their visits.  We used the VIP channel and visited over 100 pavilions, which allowed me to gain eye-opening exposure.’ 

For some, the exposure did not end with the summer internship.  Wan Tak Yan Phoebe, a Year 2 Music student interning in an NGO in Singapore, will attend a conference in Tokyo with representatives from the NGO in late November.  ‘I was assigned to prepare a 5,000-word report for a project which was submitted to a competition held by the Consortium of Institutes on Family in the Asian Region, and we got selected to the final round of the competition.  We will be heading off to Tokyo for a conference,’ she said. 

The ceremony received warm response from many partner organizations. Representatives of the Liaison Office of The Central People’s Government in the HKSAR, partner universities and a number of internship organizations joined the ceremony to show their support.