Dear Students:
So happy to know that you are now joining the family of the School of Arts and Social Sciences (A&SS), Hong Kong Metropolitan University. I write to welcome you with great pleasure and eagerness.
You might have already known these facts: the A&SS is a vibrant and fast-growing school, which offers a wide range of programmes in humanities, language, translation, social sciences, and creative arts. Our diverse programmes attract about 2500 full-time undergraduate students, 1500 part-time undergraduate students and 500 postgraduate students. We have almost 100 full-time and 100 part-time academic staff to engage in teaching, research and community services. What I want to add is we are still expanding with more new academic programmes! A&SS has received very positive endorsement in the recent School Review exercise in 2024.
I know you are entering into our all-rounded education curriculum with great enthusiasm, and our teachers are also feeling your heat and energy. This is a wonderful beginning and you help me recall my own freshman days, when I started my philosophy education crying alone in the University library. I cried not because I was worrying the kinds of jobs I can find when I graduate majoring in Humanities. I cried because I was afraid that I would lose my faith in Christianity at the time, and I was reluctant to face the intellectual challenges and come out of my comfort zone. What I want to tell you is that now years gone by, I still celebrate and rejoice that I have majored in Arts and Humanities and minored in Psychology. The learning experiences have changed my life with the abundance of a thoughtful mind. I have no regrets but an identity with pride.
Professor Dan Grimley, Head of Humanities at Oxford University, said the skills and experiences conferred by studying humanities and social Sciences can transform people's working life, their life as a whole, and the world around them. You will have the resilience and adaptability developed during your learning days. We all know that the world is changing rapidly, if not more rapidly than that in the previous centuries. We are living in an AI environment and we are holding fast to values which we used to think are universal in a flamboyant world.
You will be taught by our well-trained teachers and academics with strong research outputs and capacities. The School found numerous research institutes/centres, including Research Institute for Digital Culture and Humanities (RIDCH), Tin Ka Ping Centre of Chinese Culture (TKPCCC), Public and Social Policy Research Centre (PSPRC), and a research centre for Cantonese Opera. They are housing active researchers who are leading academic and applied researches. We believe that our teaching will be benefited by our researches, which are also addressing the pressing needs of our society.
You are not only a student but an important part of us. You will help us create a warm and proactive education environment when we are achieving our vision and mission in being the first University in applied sciences in Hong Kong, which is always backed up by applied Humanities and Social Sciences.
Yours sincerely,
Eva Kit Wah Man (Chair Professor of Humanities and Acting Dean of A&SS)
