UM’s Cultural & Arts Festival 2013 has just ended. What role should it play in university education?
UM’s Dean of Students Dr. Peter Yu believes that a rich cultural atmosphere can serve as a unifying bond to strengthen staff and students’ sense of belonging. When asked about some people’s concern that cultural and arts activities may intrude upon study time, Dr. Yu thinks that a person’s ability to learn depends to a large extent on some essential qualities, like diligence, persistence and resilience, and such cultural and arts festival activity actually helps a person to develop these strengths. Dr. Yu also disclosed that after UM moves to the new campus, the Student Affairs Office will organise more cultural and arts activities on a regular basis. Debby Lam, a second-year student of psychology, thinks that cultural and arts activities are a very important part of university education because they open up more possibilities for future development. Nicole Choi, a PhD student of the Department of Finance and Business Economics, believes cultural and arts activities can help students to achieve whole-person development. Catherine Lin, a third-year student of the Department of Communication and a long-time learner of erhu, looks forward to moving to the new campus with a larger space and better facilities, which she believes will make it possible for the university to organise more quality cultural and arts activities.
