Professor Timothy W. Tong, President of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), has recently led a delegation to visit Hangzhou, the city of Zhejiang Province. The delegation was warmly greeted by Mr He Guanxin, Deputy Mayor of Hangzhou and senior management of Zhejiang University.
This is Prof. Tong's first visit to Hangzhou since he assumed presidency early in the year. Deputy Mayor Mr He Guanxin told the media that the local government was grateful to Prof. Tong and the PolyU delegation for their visit. He said as a result of rapid economic growth in Hangzhou and nearby regions, education and professional talents are in great demand in the course of sustainable economic and social development. He therefore encouraged PolyU to nurture more talents for the region and looked forward to fruitful collaboration in the future.
With the establishment of the PolyU-Zhejiang University International Executive Development Centre in Hangzhou, PolyU is now offering four masters', one bachelor's degree and other training programmes approved by the State Ministry of Education. During his visit, Prof. Tong also met with Prof. Yang Wei and Prof. Ni Mingjiang, President and Deputy President of Zhejiang University, to explore the possibilities of further strengthening cooperation between the two universities.
Taking the opportunity of visiting Hangzhou, Prof. Tong met with Dr Lu Quanqiu, Chairman of the Board of Wanxiang Group, and paid a visit to Hangzhou Wanxiang Polytechnic funded by him. Dr Lu has a strong tie with PolyU as he made a generous donation of RMB5 million to the University in 2003, pioneering contributions from mainland enterprises towards supporting tertiary institutions of Hong Kong. He was also an honorary doctorate of PolyU.
In fact, PolyU has a large number of alumni in Hangzhou as it started running educational programmes there as early as 1998. An alumni dinner was held in honour of Prof. Tong with over 260 alumni and guests joining the occasion. In addition, a group of PolyU undergraduates who were undertaking internships in Shanghai got the chance to meet with Prof. Tong and other delegates while they were visiting Hangzhou.
