Professor Way Kuo, University President, met some 160 alumni, students and staff at an alumni event to talk about the future development of CityU under the theme of "Scaling new heights with a dual focus on teaching and research" on 4 September.

Professor Kuo said universities in Hong Kong faced great challenges. To increase the competitiveness of CityU, all academic departments and supporting units will implement benchmarking.

"I have invited eight teams to conduct a thorough review of existing programmes to ensure they meet societal needs and improve efficiency," Professor Kuo said.

He said the quality of the University's students would directly affect its reputation. He attached great importance to nurturing students with different skills and encouraged students to participate in overseas exchange programmes to acquire new knowledge and broaden their horizons. Professor Kuo pointed out that CityU would develop a closer partnership with renowned universities on the mainland.

"I believe the mainland will become the focus of the world in a decade, thus we need to grasp this golden opportunity to engage in exchanges with mainland universities as soon as possible. Not only should our students study or do internships on the mainland, but we should also employ high quality scholars there to serve CityU," he said.

"In addition, the University treasures the development of good relationships with alumni because this helps the development of CityU. I urge all alumni to share your experience and propose constructive ideas to your alma mater," Professor Kuo added.

The alumni event was co-organised by the Standing Committee of the Convocation and the Development and Alumni Relations Office (DAO). Professor Kuo said he was pleased to share his thoughts about governing the University with alumni and at the same time, learned about the thoughts of the alumni towards the development of CityU. He hoped to have more chances to meet the alumni and exchange ideas.

Mr Patrick Lee Chung-wah, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Convocation, said he had met the President several times and felt that he was very friendly and wholeheartedly devoted to improving CityU. "Although the history of CityU is only 20-plus years, we have already got many alumni.

I hope the Convocation can consolidate the strengths of the alumni and input new energy to CityU," Mr Lee said.

Ms Kathy Chan Yin-ling, Director of the DAO, said the event was organised to let more alumni know about the vision of the President and the latest developments at CityU.

"The responses of the alumni are very positive and this shows that they are very interested in the future development of teaching and research of the University," Ms Chan said. "Their support is very encouraging and this will encourage us to devote more resources to mobilising alumni to support the development of the University."