Tsinghua President Qiu Yong Visits Chinese University of Hong Kong

President Qiu Yong visited The Chinese University of Hong Kong on May 29. During his visit, President Qiu signed an agreement for undergraduate student exchange between the two universities and attended a ceremony for the inauguration of the Tsinghua University—The Chinese University of Hong Kong Joint Research Center for Chinese Economy.

Tsinghua University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong have had a long history of collaboration beginning as early as 1985 when the universities signed an inter-school exchange agreement.

Tsinghua’s School of Economics and Management and CUHK’s Department of Economics have also collaborated for many years. The establishment of the joint research center aims to converge academic resources and research expertise from Beijing and Hong Kong to build closer and more innovative cooperation for developing a world-class research center focused on the Chinese economy.

During this official visit, Qiu Yong, a well-known expert in the field of optoelectronics, was also named honorary professor of the Faculty of Science at CUHK in recognition of his contributions to developing new materials.

Qiu Yong, who was representing Tsinghua University and the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Alliance of China (IEEAC), also attended a launching ceremony to welcome to the Alliance four new member universities from Hong Kong and Macau.

Qiu Yong first expressed his warm welcome and congratulations to the four new member universities from Hong Kong and Macao on behalf of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Alliance of China, IEEAC, and Tsinghua. He said that innovation and entrepreneurship is not only a trend of our age and the focus of the our societies but also the topic of conversation of students on campuses. Innovation and entrepreneurship play a special role in education. He pointed out that innovative entrepreneurship education should be open, including the opening up of universities to universities. There is a need to integrate the resources of colleges and universities, to provide young people with a broader space for entrepreneurship. In June 2015, Tsinghua University initiated the establishment of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Alliance of China, IEEAC, which includes 154 colleges and universities and more than 60 enterprises and institutions.

President Qiu added that Hong Kong and Macao have fertile ground for innovation and entrepreneurship education, and the addition of four universities in Hong Kong and Macao is a further upgrade and diversification to the Alliance. This will further strengthen Hong Kong, Macao and Chinese mainland universities in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship education and to increase cooperation that promotes interaction between young students, cultivate more creative entrepreneurs, and truly contribute to the implementation of innovation-driven development strategy of China.

Main activities of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Alliance of China include promoting academic research in innovation and entrepreneurship education, set up investment and financing committees for college students and young alumni to provide entrepreneurship courses, counseling, project incubation, and industrial support.