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UCL honours leading lights of its Beijing alumni community

28 August 2018

Two of UCL’s leading alumni volunteers have been recognised for their outstanding contributions to UCL and its alumni in China with Honorary Fellowships at this year’s graduation ceremonies.

UCL Beijing Club Founders
This is a genius university on fire! - Hiu Ng

Hiu Ng and Daniel Foa, who have played a pivotal role in forming and developing the UCL Club of Beijing, received their awards in front of over 1,000 graduating students in London’s Royal Festival Hall.

China is home to around 7,000 UCL alumni and Chinese students now make up around 10% of UCL’s student population - the largest non-UK national group at the university. Hiu and Daniel have given significant time and resources to found and develop the UCL Club of Beijing to create a supportive network for alumni in that region and beyond, growing it from a membership of five to 3,000 in the last thirteen years.

Beijing alumni can find out more about the Club here.

Hiu, who graduated from UCL in 2001 with a BSc in Information Management, was the Founding President of the Club. Now, with her husband Daniel, she remains a hands on, dedicated volunteer for UCL in China. The two have established a framework for the Club that provides alumni there with an active social network, access to professional networking and career advice and an ongoing relationship with UCL. The group also offers guidance for potential or current students preparing to study in London.

Amongst the year-long programme of events the Club offers, a highlight is the annual Beijing Ball in November, which attracts over 300 alumni to reconnect with UCL. In 2017, the ball also hosted a high-profile Beijing launch of the It’s All Academic Campaign, 1.18 million online viewers followed the ball through live broadcast.

Alumni in China can keep in touch through We Chat: UCLClubofBeijingAlumni or UCL_London 

Congratulating Hiu and Daniel, Lori Houlihan, UCL’s Vice-Provost (Advancement), said:

“I’m delighted that Hiu and Daniel have come back to UCL and given us an opportunity to show them how much we appreciate their exceptional service. Alumni networks are a really important way for UCL’s graduates to support each other and keep a life-long relationship with UCL. Their success depends on wonderful volunteers who generously give their time and energy on behalf of their fellow alumni. Hiu and Daniel have done wonders in Beijing and on behalf of UCL, our current alumni and the many current students who will benefit in future, I want to express my heartfelt thanks.”

Thanking UCL for the honour, Hiu said:

“I started helping out UCL when I discovered after graduation that our university didn’t have official alumni activities in Beijing. The motivation was twofold: one, I wanted everyone in my circle to know UCL is a great university and not UCLA, and two, I wanted to experience and be part of a vibrant networking platform that other top universities’ alumni in Beijing such as Columbia, Harvard and Oxbridge were enjoying. This took me on a decade long journey of volunteering for UCL which continues today.

"Volunteering was an empowering experience for me. As a young female newly graduate based in China in the early 2000s, I was struggling to find my voice and identity. UCL gave me the opportunity to suggest a concept and then supported me to deliver it. This boosted my inner strength tremendously. I still remember meeting the former Provost Professor Malcolm Grant in 2008 and seeing his bemused and patient face listening to all my ideas which included setting up publishing services, having more social media presence and offering additional alumni services. I can only blame this ‘finding solutions’ thinking on my UCL education! Fast forward to now, the official Beijing alumni event has blossomed and many of the suggestions have become reality. Alumni living in Beijing can seek out likeminded friends and find a place to belong with ease.

"On my recent July trip to UCL, I discover UCL has a publishing arm, parts of East London are being regenerated by us, Jeremy Bentham is in New York, our dementia research is leading the world and new Msc degrees such as ‘Disability, Design and Innovation’ are offered. This is a genius university on fire! Provost Professor Michael Arthur has ignited a revolution for innovation that has transformed the UCL brand for the better.

"To all alumni: let’s commit to and strive for our mother university and work together to strengthen the very platform that gave us a degree. I did not graduate with perfect grades nor did I join that many student clubs and union activities during my studies. Instead, I became involved in UCL activities after graduating. It’s never too late!

"We are looking forward to your continued support and your creative ideas in helping UCL be a world class university. We are forever bonded by the unique experience of living in London, running into the Quad late for a lecture and enjoying the lazy afternoon sunshine on the formidable steps of the main building. Volunteering for UCL has been incredibly rewarding to me and I hope you can experience this too.” 

Daniel added:

“Although I didn’t study at UCL, I have got to know the university extremely well through Hiu and the many UCL alumni I’ve met through the Club. It has been very rewarding to create this network of brilliant people and help them keep connected with each other and their university. I hope the Club will grow and grow as more students from China study at UCL.”

Honorary Fellowships are bestowed each year on individuals judged to have made an exceptional contribution to UCL.