Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin
New Territories
HONG KONG
PHONE: 852-2609-7000
FAX: 852-2603-5544
www.cuhk.edu.hk

THE BOTTOM LINE

The heat and humidity of Hong Kong's summer bring attendant ailments. But Che Tao-chun has the solution - traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It's also the subject of a new five-year degree program that the Chinese University academic is launching this year. There is more to herbal cures than meets the eye. And CU is poised to reap the benefits of both Chinese and Western medicine. Its TCM pioneers form a tiny class of 15. But the graduates will be on par with colleagues trained in Western methods. Though a minority, they'll be "evidence-based practitioners with a rigorous scientific background," says Vice-Chancellor Arthur Li.

Also new on the academic calendar: a hotel management program that seems like a poor idea in the midst of a slump in local tourism. Li dismisses the doubters: "We don't do what's fashionable, but what we are good at." From its inception, the university has been rooted firmly in Chinese culture (with strength in English too). Academic exchanges with the mainland are frequent and increasingly systematized. Peking University, for example, is a longtime collaborator. Among their latest joint projects: a center combining engineering and artificial intelligence and a lab for plant molecular biology.

International approval is important - and CU gets it. The university lays claim to being the only school in Southeast Asia recognized by the U.S. Federal Drug Agency for conducting clinical trials. Overseas funding is increasingly crucial. "Recession has made government cuts all the more apparent," Li concedes. Students' mentality has to re-molded. A degree is not a meal ticket, but a learning experience. Says Li: "People realize they must have substance; we cannot continue as a speculative society." And that can only be a good thing.

- By Yulanda Chung