CBS Postgraduate Student Has Been Awarded the 2022 LSHK Outstanding Thesis Award

Dr Feng Yan, the PhD graduate of CBS in 2022, has been awarded the 2022 LSHK Outstanding Thesis Award under the category of PhD thesis. The award was offered by LSHK 香港語言學學會 The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong to encourage young scholars at local tertiary education institutions to conduct linguistics research. The LSHK Outstanding Thesis Award recognises the outstanding theses which contribute to any area in linguistics, including MA thesis, MPhil thesis, PhD thesis and Doctorate thesis. Entitled “Categorical Speech Perception Across the Lifespan”, Dr Feng’s thesis presents a comprehensive research work on the categorical perception of Mandarin Chinese speech sounds for native speakers at different ages from toddlers, teenagers, young adults, to elderlies with normal cognitive function and mild cognitive impairment. Here is the link for review Dr Feng's thesis.

FH Launched an XSeries Program in Chinese Culture: Tradition, Transformation and Interaction

The vibrant program is composed of three MOOC courses with 15 fascinating topics delivered by FH experts. The topics touch on Chinese philosophy, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Sunzi, food and cuisine, politics, strategic thinking, literature, paintings, operas, education, and the history of China’s cultural exchanges with other countries and regions.

PolyU 85th Anniversary Performance cum Putonghua Recitation and Demonstration Workshop Successfully Held

“PolyU 85th Anniversary Performance cum Putonghua Recitation and Demonstration Workshop”, jointly organised by the Chinese Language Centre of PolyU and the Tertiary Putonghua Recitation Society, was successfully held on 19 November 2022, in Chiang Chen Studio Theatre, PolyU. Participants from PolyU Putonghua recitation and demonstration workshop collaborated with members of the Tertiary Putonghua Recitation Society to give 13 recitation performances as a celebratory event for the 85th anniversary of PolyU. The event also served as a successful promotion of the art of recitation. More than 100 guests from PolyU, other tertiary institutions as well as the community enjoyed the afternoon and showed great appreciation for the performances.

PolyU Undergraduate Info Day 2022

The annual PolyU Education Info Day was held on 8 October. It is one of the best opportunities for visitors to learn about FH’s undergraduate programmes and plan for their future study. All FH Departments introduced their programmes and facilities on the occasion. Information seminars, guided visits and many more activities were also arranged for visitors. The exhibitions and information seminars can be viewed at https://www.polyuinfoday.online/

The 28th Congregation of Faculty of Humanities

The 28th Congregation (Faculty of Humanities) was held successfully on 5 November 2022 in a hybrid mode. The Congregation was live broadcast via online platforms. It was kicked off with opening remarks from the Faculty Dean Prof. Li Ping. This year, we were honoured to have two Guests of Honour, Ir Dr Chan Fuk Cheung, BBS, Former General Manager of CLP Engineering Limited and Outstanding PolyU Alumni 2013 in the First Session and Mr Kwan Chuk-fai, MH, JP, Professor of Practice of Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies and Chairman of The Community Investment and Inclusion Fund, Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the Second Session, to give the Congratulatory Address. A total of 909 students graduated this year, including 736 students receiving postgraduate degrees and 173 students receiving bachelor’s degrees. Congratulations to the class of 2022!

PolyU Arts and Humanities Scales to New Heights in THE World University Rankings by Subject 2023

PolyU’s Arts and Humanities is ranked 73rd globally in the 2023 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings by subject, leaping over 20 spots from last year and breaking into top 100 for the first time. The Faculty will continue to strive for excellence and to fulfil our core missions of nurturing talents, discovering knowledge, and impacting the society. THE uses 13 performance indicators that measure an institution’s performance which are grouped into the areas of teaching, research, citations, international outlook, and industry income. The relative weightings of these criteria vary slightly from discipline to discipline.

Dr Renia Lopez Awarded Research-Stay at the University of Alcala

Dr Renia Lopez, Associate Professor of ENGL, has been awarded a one-month study-stay at the University of Alcalá (Spain) under their prestigious programme Giner de los Ríos, established in 2015. Under this programme, renowned scholars are invited to work with Alcalá’s researchers to explore new topics and develop international co-operations. Dr Lopez has been working on with scholars and students at the University of Alcalá for a few years now and is currently working on a second project which evaluates the benefits of online teaching when the teacher's grammatical explanations are presented with or without gestures. Among the new co-operations she will explore is a study on the affective elements of the foreign language teaching and learning process. Dr Lopez will also be giving talks to students and staff at Alcalá as well as exploring the opportunities for further collaborations and possible exchanges between the University of Alcalá and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

EAC Team Wins 2022 UGC Teaching Award

The English Across the Curriculum (EAC) Team led by Dr Julia Chen(EDC), with Dr Grace Lim(ELC) and collaborative members from CityU, HKBU and HKUST has received the UGC Teaching Award (Collaborative Teams) this year. EAC initiatives over the past few years include workshops for discipline teachers on students’ writing problems, briefings for students to guide them on writing and speaking assignments, organising and co-organising conferences, publishing papers with discipline teachers and the development of a mobile app (Capstone Ninja) with language/writing/speaking resources for students.

The 6th Hong Kong Confucius Institute Day

On 24 September 2022, the 6th Hong Kong Confucius Institute Day was held at PolyU. More than 300 PolyU teachers, students and alumni signed up for the event. Prof. Li Ping, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities of PolyU, Prof. Chu Hung-lam, Chairman of Council of CIHK, and Prof. Han Xiaorong, Director of CIHK, attended the event and delivered speeches. Mr Yao Gongbai, a master of the art of Guqin, and Dr Sharon Cheung from the Department of Chinese Language and History of CityU gave a talk and demonstration on the culture and history of the Guqin. Also invited were the President of the Hong Kong Zhuzi Cultural Exchange Association, Mr and Mrs Zhu Xiang, and the District Councilor Hung Chiu-wah of Yau Tsim Mong District Council.

10 FH Students Honoured at PolyU Entry Scholarship Award Ceremony 2022

10 students of the Faculty were honoured at the University’s Entry Scholarship Award Ceremony 2022 held on 21 September. These 10 scholarship awardees are as follows: AI Zixin (BA (Hons) Scheme in Linguistics and Translation) AKHTER Ishita (BA (Hons) Scheme in English and Applied Linguistics) BOONPOG Natcha (BA (Hons) Scheme in English and Applied Linguistics) CHEUNG Chin To (BA (Hons) Scheme in English and Applied Linguistics) CHU Wing Kiu (BA (Hons) Scheme in Linguistics and Translation) HO Nam Wai Tinky (BA (Hons) Scheme in English and Applied Linguistics) LEUNG Kwan Yi (BA (Hons) Scheme in Linguistics and Translation) SHI Samantha Monique Zhang (BA (Hons) Scheme in Linguistics and Translation) WANG Xinran (BA (Hons) Scheme in Linguistics and Translation) ZHANG Shuying (BA (Hons) Scheme in Linguistics and Translation) Our ENGL student Tinky Ho, who represented Hong Kong at the Tokyo Olympics, delivered a speech on behalf of the awarded undergraduates, sharing her excitement of joining PolyU, and expressing her appreciation to the PolyU community for their support.