The University’s congregation is a once-in-a-life-time occasion for graduates. In 2014, HKUST conferred honorary doctorates to five distinguished individuals, and Sir Michael Moritz, well-known philanthropist and Chairman of Sequoia Capital, as one of the recipients, delivered an illustrious commencement speech to our young graduates.

Sir Moritz listed the many opportunities he saw in a booming China for HKUST’s graduates. He has tremendous confidence in the future of China’s technology industry: in his opinion, China today already hosts four Silicon Valleys – Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Guangzhou. He encouraged the graduates to venture into China to find out the qualities that were required to build a Silicon Valley of their own. “The Chinese share of the global market capitalization created by new technology companies and by the embryonic work that takes place at universities like HKUST is only going in one direction, and that is up.”

Sir Moritz further expressed admiration to the technology industry giants in China for their combination of innovation, opportunism, and a good lashing of intuition, which led to the formation of extraordinary companies. “The China I know is full of daring entrepreneurial adventurers who imagine things that others had not contemplated and who compete with an intensity and vigor and fervor that is more than a match for the West,” Sir Moritz added.

In his ending remarks, Sir Moritz reminded the graduates, “Follow your interest, and believe in yourselves, and follow the breadcrumbs of life as their strewn on the path ahead of them. And that way everything will be fine. There is no place like home.”

On the same occasion, the University also conferred honorary doctorates on other four eminent academics and community leaders in recognition of their distinguished achievements and contributions. They are Prof Chih-Ming Ho, Ben Rich-Lockheed Martin Chair Professor at UCLA; Dr Michael Hoi Hung Mak, HKUST’s former Council Vice-Chairman; Prof Mu Ming Poo, Paul Licht Distinguished Professor in Biology at the University of California, Berkeley; and Prof Yu Xie, Otis Dudley Duncan Distinguished University Professor of Sociology, Statistics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

The 2014 Congregation conferred 2,129 bachelor’s degrees, 1,891 master’s degrees, and 215 doctoral degrees, expanding the HKUST alumni community to over 54,000.