Asia's oldest university celebrates 400th anniversary with fireworks display
Philippines: The University of Santo Tomas celebrated its 400th anniversary in January this year, starting with a formal Eucharistic celebration. This was preceded by a week of festivities and culminated with a dazzling fireworks display.
The papal legate, nearly 200 cardinals, archbishops, bishops, more than 700 priests as well as dozens of government officials, university presidents, about 75,000 students and alumni from all over the world attended the celebrations.
The 400-year-old institution's Rector, Rev Fr Rolando V. de la Rosa, OP, became the youngest-ever rector of UST when he was elected in 1990 at the age of 37.
As part of its celebration, UST formed probably the largest living rosary in the world with over 20,000 students, faculty members, administrators and employees participating. On Ash Wednesday in March this year, UST mobilised about 24,000 people to form a black-and-white Dominican cross in front of the UST chapel and grandstand (picture).
City U students' business plans to market fish technology win top international awards
Hong Kong: Three students from different faculties at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) have created an award winning business plan aimed at marketing transgenic fish technology developed by scientists at CityU.
The technology detects estrogen disruptors in food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and plastics in an efficient, cost-effective way. Estrogen disruptors are substances that interfere with the hormonal system in the body, a growing concern worldwide. The CityU researchers had found that their new testing mechanism was around 60% more efficient compared to existing chemical tests.
The three students - from the departments of marketing, manufacturing engineering and engineering management, and accountancy - formulated their business plan by drawing on their interdisciplinary knowledge, experience and learning to design a conceptual framework for manufacturers of food and healthcare products.
The CityU team beat more than 250 undergraduate teams to win the Hong Kong competition of the HSBC Young Entrepreneur Awards in April 2010, and a few months later secured the Best of the Best Award at the HSBC Young Entrepreneur Regional Awards in Malaysia, beating more than 1,000 teams from Bangladesh, Brunei, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. In addition, two of the team members came in third with a similar proposal in the 5th Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition organised by Singapore Management University last July, competing with over 800 tertiary students from 40 countries.
