Mr Liu Sing Cheong, JP

Chairman Yang, University Council Members, President Tong and Honoured Guests,

I would like to thank my alma mater wholeheartedly for conferring this prestigious Fellowship upon me today.

It has already been over three decades since I graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic, yet the deep affection I have for it has never faded. I am most grateful for the education provided by my alma mater. Despite my busy schedule, I have stayed in close touch, hoping that I could contribute to its development.

The comprehensive training in surveying provided at PolyU has not only facilitated my career development, but also equipped me with the ability to ascertain the needs of our society as well as the necessary knowledge and skills to support the advancement of our country. In 1992, when I was engaged in real estate business in the Chinese mainland, the property market there was stagnant. Besides this, the related courses provided by mainland institutions only focused on the local market and the curriculum was not aligned with the trend of internationalization. In view of this, I worked together with some enthusiastic friends to develop a programme to strengthen practitioners' understanding of the systems and rules of the global markets. This later gave birth to the pioneer Master's programme in International Real Estate jointly offered by PolyU and the Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. Eight years have passed, and I am truly proud to see the programme flourish, bringing cohorts of graduates with professional competence to steer the dynamic growth of the Chinese mainland real estate market, which is attracting more and more overseas investors.

I look forward to having further opportunities to serve my alma mater and to facilitate it in nurturing more talents for the advancement of our country. Finally and most importantly, I would like to thank my wife PY for her affectionate care and unfailing support. Without her, I do not think I could have come this far. Thank you.

Mr Victor Cha Mou Zing

Ms Fiona Cheung Sum Yu, MH

Ms Katherine Hung Siu Lin

Mr Freeman Lau Siu Hong, BBS

Mr Liu Sing Cheong, JP

Professor Liu Yingli

Mr Louis Mak Law Mo

Mr Yau Wah Yau

(in alphabetical order by name)