The Hong Kong Polytechnic University today (15 December) staged a Farewell Dinner in honour of its President Professor Poon Chung-kwong, who will be retiring by the end of this year after completing 18 years of distinguished service. Dr Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of HKSAR and University Chancellor, and his wife are the Guests of Honour.
PolyU Council Chairman Mr Victor Lo also announced at the dinner that the University Council has unanimously agreed to confer the title of President Emeritus upon Prof. Poon in recognition of his distinguished accomplishment and contributions to PolyU.
Addressing a full house of more than 900 dinner guests, Dr Donald Tsang highly commended Prof. Poon for his tremendous contribution to the advancement of higher education in the territory and leading the Institution to achieve full university status in 1994 during his tenure.
In his farewell address, Prof. Poon said he is truly grateful for the unswerving commitment of his colleagues who have been working closely with him over the years. He is also pleased to note that PolyU has made steadfast advancement on different fronts with ardent support from the Government, public and private sectors, and the community at large.
Prof. Poon said he would devote more time after his retirement to volunteering work through the Virya Foundation’s Mainland University Student Finance Scheme, a programme set up by his wife and him together with close friends in 2005, to offer financial assistance to mainland students in need of support to pursue further education on the Chinese mainland.
Prof. Poon took the helm of the Institution in January 1991, and was previously Professor of Chemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Science at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). He graduated from HKU with the degrees of Bachelor of Science (General) and Bachelor of Science (Special), both with first class honours, obtained his degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University College, University of London and worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at the California Institute of Technology. In 1979, he was awarded the prestigious honour of Doctor of Science by the University College, University of London.
Over the years, Prof. Poon has chaired or been a member of numerous committees of the Government and of the industrial, business and educational sectors: to name a few, he was an appointed member of the Legislative Council (1985-1991); was the Founding Chairman of the Government's Committee on Science and Technology (1988-1991); served on the Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1995-1997); and has been a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference since 1998. He is also an Honorary Professor of several top universities on the Mainland.
The farewell dinner for Prof. Poon was joined by many community leaders and senior government officials, including former Council Chairmen Dr Allen Lee Peng-fei; Dr Peter Woo; Dr Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung; former PolyU Court Chairman Dr Tung Chee-chen and current Chairman Dr Roy Chung. Mrs Laura Cha, Chairman of the University Grants Committee; Mr Michael Suen, Secretary for Education; Dr Leung Chun-ying, Convenor of the Executive Council and a PolyU alumnus, and Mr Tsang Yok-sing, President of the Legislative Council also attended this function.
A delegation comprising senior representatives from mainland universities also made a special trip to Hong Kong for this memorable occasion. Among the delegation members are senior management of Shanghai Jiaotong University, NorthWest University of Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University and the University of Science and Technology of China.
The three-hour dinner concluded with a singing performance by PolyU students with the oldie “To Sir, With Love”.
*****
