Swire has been actively subsidizing education for many years. We firmly believe that helping children build a better future is one of the best ways to repay the community that helps us develop our business. Our support for education in Asia can be traced back to the early 20th century. At that time, Swire was one of the few foreign companies that donated 40,000 pounds (about 2 million pounds today) to set up a Swire Chair in the Engineering Department of the University of Hong Kong. At the same time, Swire nominates four Swire donor scholars every year.
Since then, Swire Group has invested heavily in various facilities of HKU, including the establishment of White College for graduate students in 1960s. In the 1970s, Taikoo donated money to build a new undergraduate dormitory-Taikoo Hall; In the 1990s, it provided a large amount of funds for the establishment of the Swire Institute of Marine Science in Cape Aguilar. In 2003, Swire Group pledged to donate another HK$ 4 million to improve the facilities of Swire Institute of Marine Science.
Swire is full of talents, and many excellent executives are graduates of the University of Hong Kong. In order to thank the University of Hong Kong for providing us with talents, Swire offers undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships to this generation of Hong Kong university students. At present, Dr. Swire Scholarship Scheme provides scholarships for two Chinese mainland graduate students to study at the University of Hong Kong for three years. In 2003, we established two scholarships, Swire Postgraduate Scholarship-Master of Common Law and Swire Postgraduate Scholarship-Master of Economics, to provide annual fees for two mainland students to study one-year master's courses in Hong Kong. In addition, Swire Postgraduate Scholarship sponsored a representative of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office in Beijing as an additional student of the University of Hong Kong.
Swire also funded the Chinese University of Hong Kong to build a lecture hall in the Social Science Building; As for the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the chairman of its School of Design was named in recognition of its generous donation, and the Hong Kong Aeroengine Maintenance Service Company has also provided three scholarships for engineering undergraduates since 2006. At present, Swire offers 27 undergraduate scholarships to six universities in Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific also provides travel scholarships to more than 90 students from all over the world to study at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and sponsors exchange programs between the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the City University.
In 1980s, we set up Swire Education Trust Fund to help scholars from all over the world, especially students from Swire business places, to study undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the UK. Swire and Oxford University have a long history. At present, the Trust Fund supports graduate students from Asia to study at San Antonio and nuffield College, and provides a scholarship to a student from Taiwan Province Province every year to study at university college. The University College also offers a number of bachelor's degrees to freshmen of the University of Hong Kong. At present, there are three Swire Education Trust scholars from Chinese mainland studying at Oxford University. Swire Education Trust also sponsored three children of Swire employees in Hong Kong to study in universities in the UK.
In 2005, Swire participated in an important new project and established Swire International Youth Elite Training Program in cooperation with HKUST. Swire believes that if Hong Kong wants to maintain its advantage as a major commercial and financial center in the world, it should further lead the international trend. The elite training program allows HKUST to recruit six overseas students every year to pursue full-time undergraduate degree courses in different colleges. Scholarships include tuition, accommodation and living expenses in Hong Kong. At the same time, 20 selected local undergraduates have the opportunity to participate in HKUST's annual overseas exchange program and receive Swire Scholarships to study in famous universities in the United States and Europe for one semester to one academic year.
In addition, Swire actively supports primary and secondary education. Swire Coca-Cola sponsored the "Hope Project" in Chinese mainland, which is a government-approved plan to improve the education level in poor rural areas. In 2005, Swire also began to subsidize 20 students from poor families in a high school in Ruyuan County, Shaoguan City. In Taiwan Province Province, Swire Group Charitable Trust has been providing major funds for Taibei European School since 1994, which is a consortium serving the international community in Taiwan Province Province, and donated NT$ 20 million to build a new Swire European College Primary School. In Hong Kong, the group's companies support a scholarship program to provide financial assistance to 125 employees' children who have gone from middle school to university.
Swire founded Swire Primary School in Hong Kong on 1923, which is a free primary school for the children of employees of Swire Sugar Factory and Swire Wharf. 1947, it was transformed into a government-funded school. In 2003, the school moved to a 30-classroom teaching building funded by Swire Properties. Today, Swire Education Trust Fund provides a number of scholarships for its students, and every year, it also provides additional funds to hire two qualified Putonghua teachers and two native-speaking English teachers to improve students' language ability.
English is the global business language. Nowadays, students must learn English well as soon as possible, so that Hong Kong can maintain its position as an international financial service center and a regional trade hub. In this regard, Swire shares support many related work, including the Community English Learning Center, which is a free facility for adults to improve their spoken English.
The ethnic minority population in Hong Kong is increasing day by day. In order to ensure their integration into society, Swire Properties launched the "Hong Kong is my home" activity in 2005 to help South Asian children understand Hong Kong's social culture and provide Cantonese courses to participate in local community work with them.
In Australia, the Churchill Scholarship of Swire Group supports agricultural research, with special emphasis on the research and development of cotton planting, while Cathay Pacific and Swire Tourism jointly sponsor a sports scholarship program. In 2002, John Swire &; Sons Pty and Clyde Agriculture donated 400,000 Australian dollars to the Back O'bourke Exhibition Center. Back O'bourke Exhibition Center is a lecture center to teach young Australians the traditions of the Australian outback.
In the aviation field, Cathay Pacific's trainee pilot training program has provided employment opportunities for more than 300 trainee pilots since 1988. For more than 50 years, Port Machinery Engineering Company, a subsidiary company of aircraft engineering, has been actively training Hong Kong graduates to become registered engineers, offering more than 800 different courses every year. Cathay Pacific has made a long-term commitment to the development of the aviation industry in Hong Kong, including supporting the "Advanced Aviation Education Course" of the Hong Kong Aviation Youth League and providing basic theoretical training for young people who are interested in joining the aviation industry. Cathay Pacific launched the "Leaping Ideal Plan" in 2003. Under the guidance of Cathay Pacific pilots, it taught the professional knowledge of the aviation industry and encouraged young people to participate in social services.
Over the years, Swire Charitable Trust Fund has awarded ten flying scholarships to the candidates selected by the aviation alliance in the UK every year, so that these young people who are interested in becoming pilots can get a considerable amount of basic flying training free of charge.
In Swire's corporate social responsibility concept, encouraging employees to participate in the company's charity and community programs has become an indispensable task. For example, Swire Real Estate's Love Ambassador Program provides Swire employees and their families with opportunities to participate in community activities, including frequent contact with the elderly, so as to build a harmonious society. The company has also implemented an "environmental pioneer" plan for environmental protection.
Swire company spares no effort to sponsor art activities in Hong Kong. In 2005, Zhang Weiqing, a classical pianist, performed for the first time at the Hong Kong Arts Festival exclusively sponsored by Swire. At that time, Zhang Weiqing was only thirteen years old and was the youngest performer in the Hong Kong Arts Festival.
In 2006, Swire Group Charitable Trust promised to donate HK$ 36 million to the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra within three years, making Swire the main sponsor of the orchestra. Sponsorship will help the orchestra organize more different kinds of music programs, including free programs, and invite world-renowned international performers and outstanding young musicians from China to perform for the public. At the same time, Cathay Pacific is also the designated airline of the Asian Youth Orchestra.
Swire also provides financial support to the Hong Kong Disabled People's Art Association, which is committed to integrating disabled people into society and allowing them to enjoy the pleasure of art in society.
Swire Property is committed to promoting culture and art, and has exhibited different international artworks in the properties it manages for a long time. The "Hong Kong Island East Art Lin Xuan Guided Tour" of the Department also provides free guided tours to enhance school groups and the public's understanding of these works of art.. Its shopping center regularly holds free live music performances, and the company also provides free exhibition space for galleries and young artists to use. Friday Fest Night Concert held in Pacific Place every Friday is a popular weekly program in Pacific Place, with live music performances by artists, performers and music groups. Swire Property is the founding sponsor of little sally Weng Drama Club, which organizes drama classes for local primary school students, rehearses and performs English dramas adapted from Shakespeare's masterpieces with professional drama performers, and helps Cantonese-speaking children to enhance their confidence in speaking English and make English expression more fluent.
Swire and Cathay Pacific understand the importance of promoting health education in schools, so they have become the main sponsors of the life education program in Hong Kong. The program uses mobile classrooms to teach primary and secondary school students and students with special needs the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse, and the program has achieved remarkable results.
Cathay Pacific established Cathay Pacific Care Wheelchair Library in 1996 to provide special wheelchairs for Hong Kong sick children who unfortunately suffer from muscular dystrophy. Cathay Pacific and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) jointly hold the annual "Give Change" in-flight fundraising activities to support the Foundation in implementing various projects in more than 50 countries. Dragonair has also implemented a similar plan to support the work of "Orbis" Eye Aircraft Hospital in this area, while Hong Kong Aviation Engineering Co., Ltd. and its Xiamen subsidiary Xiamen Swire Aircraft Engineering Company provide free maintenance services for aircraft. At present, Swire is sponsoring an orbis ophthalmology student from Kunming to study at the London School of Hygiene. Studying in tropical medical college. Cathay Pacific also gives free air tickets to vulnerable groups, and those in need go overseas for life-and-death surgery.
In Britain, Swire Group supports all kinds of charitable work, paying special attention to medical care and education. In Hong Kong, Swire's sponsors include the Community Chest, the Hong Kong Tzu Chi Association, the Hong Kong Outreach Trust, the Red Cross, charitable associations and Friends of Charity.
Swire has always been charitable, actively responding to social needs caused by natural disasters, and trying to help relevant aid agencies, such as the Indian Ocean tsunami on February 26th, 2004/KLOC-0 and the Pakistan earthquake on October 8th, 2005. In Hong Kong alone, Swire raised more than HK$10 million for tsunami victims from companies and employees, while Cathay Pacific and Dragonair also sent planes to deliver goods to the disaster areas. James Finlay enthusiastically participated in the rescue work in Sri Lanka after the tsunami, established a refugee camp there, and later assisted in the reconstruction work. Finley also distributed medical supplies, relief supplies, clothes and tents to refugees in Pakistan.
Xiamen University announced on April 20 1 1 that it plans to set up a coastal experimental observation station (hereinafter referred to as "Ocean Station") in Fujian Province with the support of Swire Group Charitable Trust Fund (hereinafter referred to as "Swire Trust Fund") to monitor the impact of global climate and human-induced environmental changes on marine ecosystems. The research station will include time series observation equipment, marine ecological simulation laboratory, marine engineering materials and instruments research and development laboratory, and marine archaeological research diving training center.
The research station covers an area of about 66.34 acres (about 27 hectares), facing the open waters of the Taiwan Province Strait, which is relatively less affected by rivers and has outstanding geographical advantages. The station is located on the southern edge of the coral reef nature reserve and is rarely affected by human activities. Its marine experimental data and field monitoring data can objectively reflect the typical characteristics of the continental shelf area along the northeast coast of the South China Sea in China.
Professor Dai, director of the State Key Laboratory of Offshore Marine Environmental Science of Xiamen University, said: "The offshore fixed-point experiment and monitoring can directly and continuously provide scientific research experimental data and field observation results, and it is one of the three important means to obtain the basic parameters of the ocean. We are very pleased that this project will establish a close cooperative relationship with Swire Institute of Marine Science of the University of Hong Kong. RMB 5.6 million donated by Swire Trust Fund will be used for the construction cost of the research station. "
Dr. Dai added: "Ocean Station, as the field station of Xiamen University's marine research, will jointly build a number of facilities with Swire Institute of Marine Science to establish a" sister observatory "to conduct research on the response of marine ecosystems to global climate change, strive to be included in the national ecological observation network, and establish a sustainable operation and development model."
"Swire has a long-term commitment to the environment," said Lei, director of Swire Group Limited in Hong Kong and chairman of Swire Charity Working Committee, which is responsible for supervising Swire Trust Fund. 1990, swire institute of marine science of the university of hong kong was funded. In the past twenty years, the institute has conducted first-class marine scientific experiments with its excellent facilities. I hope that the Taikoo Ocean Research Station of Xiamen University will make great achievements in the future. "