Media

HKU signs partnership agreement with IAS in Princeton, Einstein’s academic home

17 Mar 2009

 

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) today (March 16, 2009) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Princeton, New Jersey, for scholarly exchanges.  HKU Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Lap-Chee Tsui, signed the academic partnership agreement with IAS Director, Professor Peter Goddard, at the Institute in Princeton.

IAS is one of the most renowned and respected centres of intellectual inquiry in the world, and was the academic home of Albert Einstein, who served on the faculty from 1933 until 1955.

World-famous scholars and thinkers who worked at IAS include Albert Einstein, John von Neumann, Kurt Gödel, J Robert Oppenheimer, Erwin Panofsky, Homer A Thompson, George Kennan and Hermann Weyl.

The collaborative agreement will encourage dialogue and interaction by IAS and HKU by facilitating the participation of scholars and scientists from HKU to attend conferences, symposia and other scholarly meetings held at the Institute, and vice versa.

Both institutions also agreed to secure resources to facilitate scholars and scientists from Chinese universities and institutes (including those from Hong Kong), to support their fellowship at the Institute.

Professor Goddard said, "We are pleased to collaborate with the University of Hong Kong to strengthen our intellectual ties and encourage gifted scholars to apply for Memberships at the Institute.  Over the past decade the Institute has welcomed some 60 scientists from China, and they have added greatly to our international distinction, so we are committed to fostering this important scholarly exchange." 

Professor Tsui said, "The Institute is well-known to be one of the world's leading centres for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. So of course it is a great honour to be able to form academic partnerships with an institution whose faculty has included so many monumental scholars."

He added, "I hope the Memorandum we are signing today will bring about long-term partnerships between our scholars and researchers that will result in lasting world-class scholarship."

The agreement was signed during a visit in the East Coast of the US by a HKU delegation comprising Professor Tsui and senior academics.  The visit will include meetings with Provosts and leading academics at Ivy League universities and institutes: Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

The HKU delegation will also be visiting HKU alumni and friends from businesses and the government.

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Joanne Yung, Manager (Media), External Relations Office, HKU (Tel: 2859 2600/Email: hkumedia@hku.hk).

Professor Lap-Chee Tsui (HKU Vice-Chancellor and President) signed the academic partnership agreement with Professor Peter Goddard (Director of the Institute for Advanced Study(IAS), Princeton, New Jersey)


From left: Professor Lap-Chee Tsui (HKU Vice-Chancellor and President), Professor Peter Goddard (Director of the Institute for Advanced Study(IAS), Princeton, New Jersey), Professor Kam Louie (HKU Dean of Faculty of Arts), Professor W.C. Chew (HKU Dean of Faculty of Engineering) and Michael Gehret (Associate Director of IAS, Princeton)