An Orientation Ceremony was held for new students at the Students' Cultural Plaza on August 30. Over 1100 new students and parents attended the ceremony and were seated according to their academic programmes. Prof. Kwok Siutong, Executive Vice President of UIC, urged the students to put away redundant protections from family and friends and learn to be responsible and independent in his address to the congregation.
Prof. Zhang Genfa, Academic Registrar hosted the ceremony. The National Anthem was played for the first time on campus for the new students. And Dr. Zhang Cong, Vice President, Prof. Zee Sze-yong, Vice President, and Prof. Kwok Siu-tong, Executive Vice President delivered speeches respectively.
Prof. Samuel Hui, Acting Dean of Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prof. Che-Bor Lam, Associate Dean of Division of Business and Management, Dr. Michael Fitzhenry, Director of General Education, Prof. Eva Lai, Director of English Language Center, Dr. Wu Hongyu, Director of Chinese Language and Culture Center, and Prof. Lucie Bernier, Director of Centre for Foreign Languages and Cultures were also present.
Prof. Zhang Cong Explained Liberal Education in Brief
During the speech, Prof. Zhang Cong welcomed the new students and explained one of UIC's core educational concepts: Liberal Education, to the new students.
Prof. Zhang said: A liberal education is an education meant to afford young people a sense of joy, and learning for learning's sake, learning of which the goal is not professional mastery of technical capacity or commercial advantage, but the commencement of a life long pleasure in the human exercise of our minds, our most human part. It is an education of which the spirit is designed to remind us that education is eternal and will be the means, far more than a job or career, to forge those links with family, neighbor, community, and country that will allow each link to sustain the other. It is also an education in the development of that most practical of human activities, which is thinking--analytically, creatively, humanely and in expressing the results of that thinking, in speech and in writing, with clarity, logic, and grace.
Prof. Zee Sze-yong Talked about Good Qualities of a University Student
Prof. Zee focused his speech on the qualities of a university student. He said: "You have chosen UIC, there must be good reasons behind your choice. In life, we all have to make many choices and decisions, including some difficult ones, but once a choice or decision has been made, the next step is to face it and treat it as a task that must be accomplished and done well.
To do this requires a wide range of qualities, some you already have, some you will soon develop. To name a few, devotion, good judgment, hard work, motivation, optimism, resilience, responsibility, self confidence, sense of purpose, etc.
Above all, we expect you to achieve a good standard of honesty in the years in the college, and for that matter, a lifetime. For example, we do not accept plagiarism, which means you are not allow to copy other people's work, nor do we tolerate any form of dishonesty, harassment, and violence, on or off the campus, for example, we consider treating in examinations a serious crime, certainly a path to academic failure."
Prof. Kwok Siutong Urged New Students to be Independent and Responsible
Prof. Kwok began his speech by responding to a parent's question about the space of UIC previously at the High Table Dinner. Prof. Kwok said:
"If you sit here, and look around you, you can see the buildings of UIC. In terms of physical space, it may be small, but please look deeper into it, look at the design of this building, this campus, it is open, it is wide, it's not limited, it's not barricaded, it's not marked. All the buildings that we have here are open and circulated; it can be moved around; it's a flow of space; it's a space with an unlimited vision."
"We want to educate you not just by material buildings; we want to look at the spaces that you may develop on your own. Create the space; create the future for yourselves, so that the spaces and futures will be yours."
Later, Prof. Kwok emphasized that students were at the center of education at UIC, which meant: "the teachers, the professors, are sitting at the side. We are at the side to help you, to support you, to provide guidance if necessary, but you are at the center.... Even though you have so many friends and fellow students sitting around you, you are still an individual. An individual should take up the responsibility--social, economic, political, as well as personal. You have to be a responsible student and young adult, and that's how you are going to walk through the roads, walk through the path, circulating around these buildings. "
"Don't depend on your professors alone, don't go back home to ask for your parents for help. If you have difficulties, come out and talk to us, talk to your professors, talk to your friends, because you alone are responsible for your own lives. We are here to help you, but we are not your masters, because you are master of your own fate. You have to be as self independent, self reliant, as far as possible in the coming four years, in order to prepare you to leave this space. "
To conclude, Prof. Kwok said, "Hopefully in four years' time, you will be sitting here again, to receive the certificates of graduation, and you will be able to tell your parents and tell the world, you are really a UIC graduate, and you have learned from UIC what a good student and young adult should have learned."
Reporter: Richard Xu
Photos taken by: Lexus Liu
MPRO
