The 60th and 61st Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) Commencement were held via online live streaming on the afternoon of 15 November. The 2019 and 2020 graduates of UIC watched this ceremony online.
A total of 1360 UIC bachelor and master graduates from the class of 2019 were awarded degree certificates from HKBU, with 28 of the students receiving the Scholastic Awards, while 140 of the students received the First Class Honours.
For the 2020 class, a total of 1432 UIC bachelor and master graduates were awarded degree certificates from HKBU, with 29 of the students receiving the Scholastic Awards, while 207 of the students received the First Class Honours.
President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU, Prof Roland Chin thinks highly of collaborative quotient
President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU, Prof Roland Chin, delivered a speech at the ceremony. He mentioned that now the students are in a transition from the university to the world. Prof Chin was blunt in his address and spoke about the pandemic crisis and how it will affect the students.
"Only months ago, your biggest headaches were about which company you should choose to start your career. Or which overseas universities to go to for your Master's or PhD. Then all of a sudden, you wake up to find that all these opportunities have vanished like a dream. Everything becomes uncertain."
President Chin also explained emotional quotient (EQ) intelligence quotient (IQ), and collaborative quotient (CQ) concerning how it is significant in today's world. He hopes that graduates can practice and demonstrate how high-level collaboration can change the future.
President of UIC Prof Tang Tao encourages graduates via a video to face up to challenges
Before the Commencement, President of UIC Prof Tang Tao sent a message to students via video. He mentioned that after 15 years of development, UIC's reputation has grown with many students having been recognised by many world-renowned institutions when they applied for further study. According to the ShanghaiRanking of Chinese Universities in China, UIC is ranked sixth in 2019 for undergraduates who go overseas for further study, and among the top 100 in China for high-end talents in 2020.
President Tang said that the pandemic has made people understand that life is unpredictable, and the only certainty is continuous adaptation and learning. He said: “You will enter a world that needs not only your talent, but also your insight, your courage, and your compassion. With those qualities and with the education you complete today, I have no doubt that you will continue to impress us with your achievements in the years to come.”
Cai Sirui, an Accounting student who graduated in 2019, and Yu Pu, a Cinema and Television student who graduated in 2020, shared their experience of studying at UIC as graduate representatives. Cai Sirui mentioned that UIC's Whole Person Education not only allowed her to understand herself better but also cultivated her awareness of caring about people, society and the environment around her. Yu Pu explained that she had found a sense of belonging with her major in Cinema and Television, as well as the friends she had made during her duration at UIC.
In recent years, more than 70% of UIC graduates have chosen to pursue postgraduate studies, and the number of students entering the top 100 schools in the QS ranking has increased year after year. As of 31 August this year, nearly 97.8% of the 2020 undergraduate graduates participated in the graduation questionnaire. Precisely 77.8% of UIC graduates who chose to pursue further studies this year were admitted to top 100 universities ranked by QS.
Some of the prestigious international universities that UIC students have been accepted into for further study this year include University College London, National University of Singapore, Columbia University, University of Edinburgh and Johns Hopkins University. The number of graduates who chose to pursue further studies in China has also increased. These institutes include Beijing Normal University, Renmin University of China, Central Academy of Fine Arts, and Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School.
Graduates who choose direct employment have strong competitiveness and their employment areas are mainly in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Beijing and Shanghai.
From MPRO
Editors: Samuel Burgess, Deen He, Zhang Fan
