At the Board Meeting of the Nansha Information Technology Park on 31 March 2010, a resolution was made to formally appoint the main contractor for the construction of the HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School building. All the relevant procedures have been completed and actual construction will start shortly, with the finishing date scheduled for next year. This sets a new milestone for the development of the Graduate School.
The new building will have a total floor area of 25,000 square meters, complete with laboratories for research and education in environmental and energy technology, new materials, biotechnology and information technology. The building will also house teaching facilities, a lecture theater, a library, and other student amenities.
HKUST’s research activities in Nansha started about three years ago, and currently have over 130 staff members. At present, there are 11 research centers, 2 joint laboratories, one special research project and one central research facility. These research activities fall into four areas: information and communication technology, advanced materials, environment and sustainable development, and biomedical and biotechnology. While the School’s new facilities are being built, the School rents premises in the Nansha IT Park.
The Development Fund of the Fok Ying Tung Graduate School comes from private donations from the Fok Ying Tung Foundation, and is earmarked for HKUST’s development in Nansha.
Apart from the contribution from the Fok Ying Tung Foundation, the Graduate School has successfully applied for additional research funding. To date, they have secured 50 research projects, including State 863 and 973 projects, National Natural Science Foundation projects, and research funding from Guangdong Province, Guangzhou Municipality and Nansha Government, Guangdong-Hong Kong cooperative ventures, as well as industrial and institutional cooperative projects. The Fok Ying Tung Graduate School has been awarded the title of “State Scientific Cooperation Base” by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The Graduate School is currently planning for joint master’s degree programs in Information Technology and in Electrical Engineering with Sun Yat Sen University. At the same time, the School also plans to offer dual master’s programs with South China University of Technology in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
In the past few years, over 20 HKUST postgraduate students and over 80 Mainland exchange postgraduate students or interns have studied and conducted research in the Graduate School’s various research centers. Meanwhile, a large number of HKUST undergraduates and Hong Kong secondary school students have engaged in study and service projects related to the Pearl River Delta, using Nansha as their base.
An HKUST spokesman said that the Nansha development is an integral part of HKUST’s strategic development on the Mainland, and this development has continued to reap results as well as the recognition and support of the Central Government.
The spokesman added that the Fok Ying Tung Graduate School has provided for HKUST an exemplary platform for cooperation between Hong Kong and Guangdong as well as international institutions. He said that HKUST is proud to be able to contribute to the integration of Hong Kong with the Pearl River Delta, especially in the areas of scientific research, technology transfer and human resource development.
For media enquiries, please feel free to contact :
Ross Lai
Tel: 2358 6306 / 9103 2928
Email: rosslai@ust.hk
