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HKU Internationalization Reaches New Height With Exchange Student Residence at UBC

18 May 2006

In the past two weeks, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), while it was busy receiving international guests from around the globe (including delegations of Singapore's Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Education, UK Minister of Higher Education and Life-long Learning, Austria's Sarlsburg Seminar President, the University of Georgetown and King's College London), announced a remarkable internationalization initiative.

On 17th May, HKU and UBC made a joint announcement to build the "HKU-UBC House" which is an international student residence and cultural centre. It provides about 200 hostel places, of which 100 will be reserved for HKU exchange students studying at UBC.

The "HKU-UBC House" is made possible with the donation of $4 milllion Cdn from Dr. Simon K.Y. Lee who was awarded an honorary degree (Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa ) by HKU in 2006. Apart from the 100 hostel places for HKU exchange students, a HKU office will also be set up in the new student residence and cultural centre on the UBC campus. This is going to be the University's 3rd main office outside of the territory after Shanghai and Beijing.

HKU Vice-Chancellor Professor Lap-Chee Tsui is grateful to Dr. Simon K.Y. Lee for his generosity. Professor Tsui said "overseas exchange experience is an important part of the whole-person education which HKU is providing to its students. We are sending our students to many places in the world, and UBC is one of the most popular choices of HKU students. By living and learning side-by-side, UBC and HKU students will gain greater insight into Canadian and Chinese cultures, ensuring a rich and diverse learning experience."

Professor Tsui continued, "HKU endeavours to increase the numbers of both incoming and outgoing exchange students in the coming few years. The biggest obstacle we face is the lack of hostel places here for the incoming exchange students. This is a problem faced by some of our exchange partners as well. The "HKU-UBC House" is a timely response to Government's latest initiative to promote student exchange programmes by providing an additional 1800 hostel places to Hong Kong universities. We indeed hope that HKU will receive greater support from the Government and that more additional hostel places will be provided to us to help us to expand our student exchange programmes."

Dr. Simon K.Y. Lee said, "I am thrilled for the opportunity to lay the foundation for academic and research advancements by two world-class post-secondary institutions, I am convinced the academic and cultural exchange of our students and researchers will lead to many discoveries and a better understanding of the ever-changing world we share."

For media enquiries please contact Ms Cherry Cheung (tel: 2859 2606) or Ms. Polo Leung (tel: 2241 5677) of The University of Hong Kong.

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