The student hostels at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) host regular hig

h table dinners for residents to help enrich the university experience, enhance whole-person development and bring students into contact with inspirational people.

CityU actively promotes whole-person development through high table dinners that provide an excellent opportunity for enhancing academic and social growth.

The Jockey Club Academy Hall held such a high table dinner recently, inviting a well-known actress and TV personality to give a talk on achieving success. On 25 March Ms Do Do Cheng shared the secrets to her success in the entertainment industry at an event emceed by Professor Richard Ho, Dean of Undergraduate Education.

This follows other CityU halls of residence that have invited prominent guests to their high table dinners in recent months. HSBC Prosperity Hall invited the South Korean consulate general to discuss the recent impact of South Korean po

pular culture on Hong Kong, known as the Korean wave; Student Residence Hall 5 asked several Indian guests to come for an evening of Indian culture; and Student Residence Hall 6 brought together industry leaders to chat about career development.

In her talk, “Becoming a Competent Professional”, Ms Cheng offered the following tips: pay attention to the world around you; seize every opportunity while you are young; keep on smiling; know your strengths; expand your talents; update your knowledge regularly; always do your best; stand straight even when beaten; and set your target and go for it.

Ms Cheng illustrated her talk with stories from the start of her career. When her employer, then Commercial TV, went bust in the 1970s, she did not know what to do, she said. “That was a major turning point for me. I realized that when an opportunity was gone, it would not come back. So I had to equip myself and I grabbed the next opportunity when it arrived.”

This recent high table dinner is one of many events held each year at which celebrities and leaders are invited to give inspirational talks that enhance students’ leadership qualities, interpersonal skills and teamwork, all of which are essential to their whole-person development.

Mrs Peggy Wong, Residence Master at the Jockey Club Academy Hall, said students benefited a great deal from Ms Cheng’s words of wisdom. “Students need exceptional communication and inter-personal skills, training in social responsibility and knowledge about different cultures to succeed in life. So our student hostel is duty bound to train students in these kinds of activities,” she said.

Students attending the talk said meeting and listening to successful people from society has given them much food for thought at the high table dinners, adding that the student residences were a home from home and added value to their university experience.