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Edinburgh marks Asian links in Hong Kong
Graduates gathered in Hong Kong on 12 June to help plot the future direction of the University.
Hong Kong skyline
The University held its General Council meeting at the University of Hong Kong to allow alumni based in Hong Kong, China and other East Asian regions to influence how the institution will develop in coming years.
The General Council plays an advisory role to the University Court, which is the supreme governing body of the University. All graduates automatically become members of the General Council.
The Council met in Asia for the first time in its 152-year history. To mark the meeting, the University organised a series of high-profile events in Hong Kong.
These included a conference on the business impact and cost of developing a low-carbon economy and a lecture on the historic ties between Scotland and Asia.
The University also presented honorary degrees to Professor Tsui Lap-Chee, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong and Madame Xu Lin, Chairman of Han Ban, which manages the world’s Confucius Institutes.
Holding the General Council meeting in Hong Kong helps engage Asian graduates in the life of the University, and I am looking forward to hearing from them about how Edinburgh can continue to develop its connections in Asia
Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea
Principal of the University of Edinburgh
Historic Asian links
A statue of Dr Huang Kuan, the first Chinese student to graduate from a Western university. This statue is at the Confucius Institute for Scotland at the University of Edinburgh
Hong Kong is an apt location for Edinburgh’s graduates to meet, as the University was the world’s first Western institution to recruit students from China.
Health pioneer Dr Huang Kuan graduated from Edinburgh’s medical school in 1855. After returning to China he forged a distinguished medical career, introducing new forms of surgery in the 1860s and playing an important role in controlling the Canton cholera epidemic of 1870.
Today around 800 students from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan attend the University of Edinburgh every year.
Recent Chinese alumni include Professor Zhong Nanshan, who identified the SARS virus; Professor Wei Li, President of Beihang University in Beijing; and Bin Ji, Vice-Chairman of the China-Taiwan Association.
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Edinburgh has taken a lead in working with Chinese institutions - the University last year signed a landmark agreement to increase collaboration with Peking University’s National Centre for International Research in Stem Cells.
Asian students have studied in Edinburgh for more than 150 years and we hope will be studying here for more than 150 years to come
Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea
Principal of the University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh scientists also work in partnership with companies such as China Mobile to develop new communications technologies, and the University has high profile partnerships with leading Chinese institutions including Peking, Tsinghua, and Fudan Universities and the University of Hong Kong.
In 2008 Edinburgh became one of the first UK universities to reduce its grade requirements for Hong Kong students, recognising the high standard of the Hong Kong exams and making it easier for Hong Kong students to be offered a place at Edinburgh.
Watch video of Professor Tom Devine talking about Scottish links to Asia
Conference puts price on green growth
Holding the General Council Meeting in Hong Kong allows the University to bring its expertise in climate change to Asia.
Events surrounding the Meeting included a conference on the cost of developing a low-carbon economy, which saw business leaders and scientists from China and Scotland discuss the challenge of delivering continued economic growth with lower emissions.
Senior representatives from HSBC, the Hong Kong Government and the China Development Institute met experts from the University of Edinburgh to discuss how the development of a global low-carbon economy might be funded.
The International Energy Agency estimates that more than US$2 trillion - including US$400 billion for China - will be needed over the next ten years to begin transforming the global economy.
The event opened with an address from Dr Andy Kerr, Director of the Scottish Alliance for Geosciences, Environment and Society, a research partnership exploring solutions to the environmental challenges facing the world.
He said that despite many developed countries struggling under huge debt burdens in the wake of the global financial crisis, China appears to have weathered the crisis well. He added that the country’s engine of high growth continued to bring millions of people out from poverty each year.
The challenge is to make high growth compatible with a low-carbon economy. Massive investment is required in low-carbon infrastructure, such as carbon capture and storage technology
Dr Andy Kerr
Director of the Scottish Alliance for Geosciences, Environment and Society
This article was published on Aug 9, 2010