CUHK held the first presentation ceremony of CUHK Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarships for Excellence 28 September, giving out eight awards to distinguished students in recognition of their outstanding achievements.

CUHK Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Rocky S. Tuan said, “I am proud of these students’ remarkable achievements. Their distinguished performance in STEM, music, writing, community service and more is impressive. The scholarships they have received are well deserved; I hope they motivate them to continue striving for excellence.”

The eight recipients come from a wide range of faculties, including Business Administration, Engineering, Law, Medicine, Science and Social Science; two of them are non-local students from Thailand and Vietnam respectively.

Jarinyagon Chantawannakul, a student majoring in Biomedical Engineering, was one of the recipients of the 2021/22 Belt and Road Scholarship awarded by the Hong Kong government, which covers her full tuition fees at CUHK. During high school, Jarinyagon actively participated in various science competitions and community services. For example, she won a Gold Medal in oral and poster presentation at the International Conference for Students in Science and Innovation in Thailand. She was also the Thai student representative at the International Conference of Young Scientists 2020 in Serbia. Before enrolling at CUHK, Jarinyagon joined other students in a fundraising campaign they initiated in Thailand, with all profits donated to a COVID-19 foundation. Her active participation in CUHK’s student activities shows her dedication to contribute to the local community and her college. She has been a member of ThinkOcean CUHK and the WYS International Team. “The scholarship recognises my past accomplishments, financially supports my educational pursuits, and opens me up to new opportunities. Although my career path is still unclear, I am sure I will work in the biomedical community,” remarked Jarinyagon. 

Studying the Global Business Studies of the Integrated BBA programme, Stella Chen Sin-yu is a violinist and a violist who has toured Asia performing music. Stella loves creative writing and was awarded Writer of the Year (English) by her secondary school. She was also the team captain of the English Debating Society and won the championship at the Hong Kong Secondary School Debating Competition. Stella said, “I journeyed through my first year at CUHK making numerous explorations: analysing the first business case, organising the first Model United Nations conference and taking the first sign language course in my life. I plan for a mix of business and arts in my future, and am looking into a potential career in arts and culture.”

Individual faculties carried out a rigorous selection process, followed by the University Panel in the final round. A maximum of eight scholarships of HK$50,000 each will be given out each year on the basis of excellent academic achievements at entrance, academic results at CUHK, communication skills, track record of distinguished leadership and non-academic performance.