Year One students began to move on 20 March into the New Cultural Village, next to the new campus site, from the former off-campus accommodation Innovative Education Hall.
Five buildings have been erected in the first phase of the construction of the Village. These serve as four residence halls, a student activities centre, a medical centre, a canteen and a supermarket. In each hostel, there is a spacious lobby and a 24 hour study room, and on every floor there is a common room and a laundry.
Upon entering the Village through a temporary entrance and walking along a lakeside path to the hostels, one notices welcoming banners greeting the eye. The hostels are built in a distinctive style and have been gracefully decorated and painted with reassuring colours.
Electric carts were used within the Village to shuttle students and their luggage from the depositary to the entrance of their hostels. As they had done six months previously when they were on the threshold of their university life, these students once again entered a new dormitory room, unpacked luggage and anticipated an exciting life.
UIC President Prof Ng Ching-Fai came early to the Village, and then Vice President Prof Zhang Cong visited students who just moved in.
“We don’t plan on building an upscale residence,” says James Cho, Director of New Campus Development Office. “A practical and comfortable environment for students in which to rest and study is what we intend to build.”
The Cultural Village is more than a collection of student hostels. It is an educational tradition at UIC, for it upholds hall culture and bolsters students’ whole person development.
The second phase of the Village is expected to be completed this summer and will accommodate 1200 students.
Reporter: Deen He
Photographers: Simon Liu, Deen He, Emily Wu
(from MPRO, with special thanks to the ELC)
