Rhodes Scholarships open to Chinese students; HKU scholar honoured

Universities set to collaborate

Chinese University has established a collaboration with Imperial College London in the realms of education and research.

Research teams from the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery at Imperial College (below) will work with their Chinese University counterparts on health care innovation that can reshape the future of patient care and well-being, as well as groundbreaking topics in imaging, sensing and robotics.

Rhodes open in China

The Rhodes Scholarships, whose laureates have become world leaders, are to be opened to Chinese students, their administrative trust said.

The first Chinese students will be selected this year and enter Oxford University next year.

Initially, the scholarships to Oxford were restricted to 57 students per year from formerly British-ruled territories, plus Germany. The lion's share of the awards have gone to US students.

"China has an important international role to play in the 21st century, and we wish to reflect that in the global footprint of the Rhodes Scholarships," said Charles Conn, programme manager.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and former US president Bill Clinton are two alumni.

HKU professor honoured

University of Hong Kong history professor Xu Guoqi has been awarded the prestigious Shigemitsu Fellowship by the Japan Society of Boston in recognition of his outstanding scholarship in the field of international affairs.

Xu is one of the first recipients of the Shigemitsu Fellowship, which was recently established by the Global Cultural Centre of the Japan Society of Boston with an endowment by Dr Yutaka Shigemitsu in commemoration of his uncle, Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu (1887-1957).

A leading scholar in modern Chinese and international history, Xu will deliver a History in the Making Public Lecture titled "Chinese and Americans: A Shared History" on April 16 at the Rayson Huang Theatre, HKU.

Taiwanese author in residence

Baptist University has welcomed renowned Taiwanese novelist Li Ang, who will be the writer-in-residence for April and May. She'll conduct public lectures, talks and a workshop on creative writing with teachers, students and other members of the public.

Li (right), who turns 63 tomorrow, published her first short story, Flower Season, aged 16.

Some of her works have been translated into languages such as French, German, Czech, Japanese and Korean. She received the Laiho Literary Award in 2001, The Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2004, and was awarded the Wu San-lien Literary Award in 2012.

More info at iww.hkbu.edu.hk