Hong Kong's Lingnan University to confer two honorary fellowships

Lingnan University will confer two honorary fellowships on 3 October 2024 to recognise outstanding professional achievements and valuable contributions to the community and the education sector. The recipients are Ms Chiang Lai-ping, Agnes and Mr Augustine Lui Ngok-che.

Ms Chiang Lai-ping, Agnes

Ms Chiang Lai-ping, Agnes, from Heze City in Shandong Province, is the founder and Chairman of the Love Foundation, and daughter of the late Dr Chiang Chen, patriotic philanthropist, industrialist, and recipient of the Grand Bauhinia Medal.

 

After graduating from California State University (CSU) with a degree in Business Administration in the 1980s, Ms Chiang returned to Hong Kong. In pursuit of her dream of singing, she entered the entertainment industry after competing in the 1981 Asian Amateur Singing Contest, and became a triple star in just a few years, singing, and acting in movies and on television. She represented Hong Kong at the CMG New Year’s Gala in Beijing, gaining wide recognition and admiration from audiences across Mainland China, but then left the entertainment industry, started her own family, and went into real estate.

 

Inspired by her father’s benevolence and patriotism, Ms Chiang concerned about the lack of proper education and care for left-behind children in rural China, and founded the Love Foundation in 2013. The foundation helps rural communities provide social services and healthy development for these children. Ms Chiang is a firm believer in the power of education to transform lives, and since 2018, she has established bursaries at more than 10 universities and many high schools throughout China, helping over a thousand students facing difficulties complete their education and preparing them to become future leaders. Since early 2019, Ms Chiang has collaborated with more than 30 secondary schools in Hong Kong to launch the “Campus Life Campaign” and “Elite Scholarship Programme”, nurturing future leaders and benefiting thousands of students.

 

This academic year, Ms Chiang and the Love Foundation team partnered with Lingnan University to launch campus initiatives, including an elite scholarship and leadership programme aimed at empowering Lingnan students to become the social leaders of tomorrow. Her charitable work is widely acknowledged and supported, and in 2022 she was given the 17th Compassion Award by the Hong Kong & Macau Taiwanese Charity Fund.

 

 

Mr Augustine Lui Ngok-che

Mr Augustine Lui Ngok-che, Chairman of the Lingnan Education Organization (LEO), whose modest family came from Chaoyang City, Guangdong Province, was born in Hong Kong. After high school, he took a professional diploma in accounting at Lingnan College, and then began a career in accounting. In 1990, while working in Singapore, he obtained a Bachelor of Business and an MBA from the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, along with an Australian CPA.

 

Mr Lui experienced a brief period of unemployment in 2001 due to the September 11 attacks, but with the help of Dr Peter Wong Pak-heung, a fellow Lingnanian, he went to work in Mainland China, gaining valuable insights into their accounting practices during the reform and opening-up periods. This laid a firm foundation for his expertise in asset management for Mainland investors when he returned to Hong Kong. He has very frankly expressed his appreciation for the warmth and camaraderie of the Lingnan family, both during his studies and afterwards.

 

Mr Lui has forged a strong bond with Lingnan and played a leading role within the Lingnan community. In 1994, he joined the Lingnan University Alumni Association (Hong Kong), and became a board member of the Lingnan Club. A few years later, he got involved in LEO, and was elected honorary secretary and then vice-chairman of LEO’s Board of Directors, and in 2023 he became chairman.

 

During his tenure as vice-chairman, Mr Lui persuaded Mainland investors to support Hong Kong’s education sector, and provide LEO with substantial funds to further its educational initiatives. Thanks to the efforts and recommendations of Mr Lui and his colleagues at LEO, and with the unanimous backing of the board, LEO has generously donated considerable sums of money to help transform Lingnan University into a leading research-intensive liberal arts university in the digital era, contributing greatly to the future development of the Lingnan community.

Ms Chiang Lai-ping, Agnes.

Mr Augustine Lui Ngok-che.