1,300 students from more than 20 local secondary schools attended HKUST's fourth "General Knowledge Lecture Series" held from 12 to 18 January. New on the agenda this year were topics on the humanities and social sciences.

This year's second HKUST Business Roundtable Dinner was held on 2 February. 21 distinguished guests from the private and public sectors joined Dr Katherine XIN, Assistant Professor of the Management of Organizations Department, to share experiences on the success of joint ventures in China. The dinner was hosted by University Court member Dr Helmut SOHMEN.

Prof Joseph B KELLER, world-renowned applied mathematician and winner of Israel's Wolf Prize, was invited to deliver a Distinguished Lecture in Science entitled "A Survey of Wave Propagation" at HKUST on 15 February.

Promoting cultural exchange among institutions and art groups was the focus of the "HKUST Arts Festival 2001", organized by the HKUST Center for the Arts. Programs were held from 26 February to 23 March, and included exhibitions, concerts, drama and dance performances, workshops, and talks.

The Indoor Swimming Pool on the top floor of HKUST's new seafront Coastal Marine Laboratory opened on 15 March. Construction costs for the laboratory and the swimming pool were supplied by private donations.

123 headmasters and teachers from local secondary schools participated in the "2001 HKUST Principals' Day" on 30 March. The theme of the daylong program was "Partnership in enrichment programs for secondary schools". The event provided the opportunity to foster closer ties and to better understand the needs of secondary schools, an important reference for the University in charting out its future programs.

More than 100 traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) experts, medical industry entrepreneurs, and government officials from the Mainland and Hong Kong attended the "Symposium on Hong Kong Biotechnology and Industrial Development on TCM" held at HKUST on 30 March. The Symposium focused on the standardization of TCM quality control systems, and how to boost the development of the local TCM industry.

The HKUST Geotechnical Centrifuge Facility was inaugurated on 3 April. The guests of honor included: Mr S S LEE, Secretary for Works of the HKSAR Government; Dr Raymond HO Chung-Tai, Member of the Legislative Council; Dr John LUK, President of the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers; Ms Ernestina WONG, Deputy Secretary General (2) of the UGC, Dr Vincent H S LO, HKUST Council Chairman; President Chia-Wei WOO; and Prof Otto LIN, Vice-President for Research and Development.

40 executives received their Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) degrees at the third Graduation Ceremony of the program, held on 6 April.