On August 31, the School of Management and Economics (SME), The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen) held a welcome ceremony in the Liwen Hall themed “Joining Hands in SME and Setting Sail for the Future.” Professor Wang Cong, Associate Vice President (Student Affairs); Professor Li Haizhou, Executive Dean of the School of Data Science; Professor Xiao Bowen, Executive Associate Dean of the School of Science and Engineering; Professor Lu Zongli, Master of the Ling College; Professor Hong Mingyan, Deputy Master of the Seventh College; Wang Kai, Deputy Director of the Office of Academic Links; Gong Rui, Deputy Director of the Research Administration Office; and other leaders of various departments of CUHK-Shenzhen attended the ceremony.

Professor Zhang Bohui, Executive Dean of the SME, delivered an opening speech. He first extended a warm welcome to all the freshmen who chose to join the SME. He mentioned that this year, the SME welcomed a total of 508 undergraduates, of whom 115 came from all over the world. He said that the international freshmen accounted for one-fifth of the overall freshmen this year, which marked the SME one more step towards internationalization and diversification.

Professor Xiong Wei, Academic Dean of the SME, delivered a welcome speech. He reviewed the development of the SEM over the past decade since its establishment in 2014. In addition, he shared three “tips on study” with students. First, he emphasized the importance of self-motivation and encouraged students to develop self-management abilities during their school years and learn to plan and arrange their personal lives. Second, he advocated that students should actively seek external support, expand personal resources, and build a strong social support network. Finally, he reminded students to have fun and enjoy every moment of college life while working hard on intense courses, maintain physical and mental health, and develop in an all-around way.

Professor Tong Shilu, Associate Dean of the SME, introduced the strong faculty strength of the SME to the freshmen present and encouraged them to communicate with and learn more from professors around them when they encounter any academic issues.

Professor Zhang Wen, Assistant Dean (Student Affairs) of the SME, shared with the freshmen the majors, course selection, student affairs, business competitions, and student societies of the SME to help them quickly get through the “adaptation periods for freshmen.”

Ms Maxine Luo, Director of the SME Career Development Center (SME-CDC), introduced the diverse functions and rich resources of the SME-CDC to freshmen and encouraged them to participate in the activities organized by the SME-CDC and explore more possibilities of their own careers as early as possible.

Wen Shiyue, a student of the Class of 2021 majoring in Applied Economics, shared her gains mainly in business competitions.

Lin Haoli, a student of the Class of 2022 majoring in finance, shared three tips he found useful as a freshman: first, step out of the comfort zone; second, establish connections with the outside world; and finally, break information barriers and make more use of the resource network around to obtain effective information.

Yang Jingyu, a finance major of the Class of 2017, gave a speech as a representative of alumni. She summarized and shared four insights from her studies with the freshmen: first, be slow to judge but quick to understand; second, explore and try more instead of limiting themselves; third, admit weaknesses and seek help from the outside in a timely manner; and fourth, proactively seek for the help of outside resources.

Finally, at the ceremony, academic mentors met with the freshmen. After the freshmen were successfully paired with their academic mentors, the ice-breaking session began. Students from various groups sat around and chatted with each other in a warm and relaxing atmosphere.