Honorary University Fellows
Dr David Sin Wai-kin is the Chairman of Myer Jewelry Manufacturer Limited, Honorary Chairman of Hip Hing Construction Company Limited, and Vice Chairman and Independent Non-executive Director of Miramar Hotel and Investment Company Limited. He has served as an Executive Director of New World Development Company Limited since its formation in 1970.
Dr Sin has been a longtime supporter of the higher education sector in Hong Kong and on the Mainland. At HKU, Dr Sin has supported the establishment of the Sin Wai Kin Distinguished Visiting Professorship in the Humanities and created the Sin Wai Kin Fund to support the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
As an Honorary Advisor to the Zhongshan University, Dr Sin assisted the University's research effort through donations and is the Chairman of the Foundation of Zhongshan University Advanced Research Centre.
He has served as a Council Member of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which conferred on him an honorary doctorate in 1994. Dr Sin received an Honorary Fellowship from the Open University of Hong Kong in 2008 and is a designated Honorary Citizen of Foshan, Guangdong.
Citation delivered by Professor John Pond BURNS, Dean of Social Sciences
Dr David Sin Wai Kin is widely recognised in Hong Kong as being a business leader with a wide range of expertise and experience, and whose leadership and influence ranges from the jewellery sector to property development, rental property, hotel operations, and even banking and finance.
For over 40 years, Dr Sin has served as an Executive Director of New World Development Company Limited, which he founded with Dr Cheng Yu Tung and Mr Yeung Chi Wan in 1970.
He is currently Chairman of Myer Jewelry Manufacturer Limited, Honorary Chairman of Hip Hing Construction Company Limited, and Vice Chairman and Independent Non-executive Director of Miramar Hotel and Investment Company Limited.
Having had his own education halted at a very young age during the Second World War, Dr Sin is guided by a deeply personal desire to support higher education, and has done so both on the Mainland and in Hong Kong.
At this University, the Sin Wai Kin Fund was established to support the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, as was the Sin Wai Kin Distinguished Visiting Professorship in the Humanities.
Why this emphasis on the humanities? Dr Sin himself puts it this way:
“I believe the humanities can enrich and illuminate our lives. Literature, music, history, philosophy, law, politics, social sciences, architecture and the arts are all important.”
Dr Sin believes that the impact of HKU research and scholarship in the humanities could be potentially transformative and will certainly be felt well beyond the campus.
And while Dr Sin has asserted that “HKU embodies many of the values of the people and society of Hong Kong”, he also supports the higher education sector as a whole.
He has served as a Council Member of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which conferred on him an honorary doctorate in 1994. Dr Sin received an Honorary Fellowship from the Open University of Hong Kong in 2008 and is a designated Honorary Citizen of Foshan, Guangdong. As an Honorary Advisor to Zhongshan University, Dr Sin supported its research efforts and is the Chairman of the Foundation of the Zhongshan University Advanced Research Centre.
It gives me great pleasure, Mr Pro-Chancellor, to present Dr David Sin Wai-kin for the Honorary University Fellowship, in recognition of his contributions to Hong Kong and academia.