![Text: "[the] ONE THING" on a dark blue world map. "the" is golden and bracketed; "ONE THING" is large, white.](https://global.nd.edu/assets/651794/950x/the_one_thing_graphic_1200_x_400_px_3_.webp)
This story is part of Notre Dame Global's series titled "The One Thing."
In 2026, we are taking a look at each of Notre Dame’s 12 global locations through a new lens—by asking each director to share with us “the one thing” they want the Notre Dame community to know about their programs, their achievements, their goals, or their aspirations.
We focus now on Notre Dame Hong Kong, established in 2014 and directed from its founding by Catherine Leung.
What is the one thing you want the Notre Dame community to know about Notre Dame Hong Kong?
“In all our endeavors, we use a highly collaborative and holistic approach—for recruiting, study abroad, faculty engagement, and alumni relations.”
CATHERINE LEUNG: It is this collaborative and holistic approach that has been the key to the success of Notre Dame Hong Kong. I work very closely with parents, alumni, benefactors, and other leaders to accomplish all that we do. This approach has much to do with Hong Kong’s history and current identity, as well as the way I can best represent Notre Dame in the many areas and countries the office serves.
Hong Kong is the hub of Asia. A city of 7.5 million people, it is a global financial center, one in the same league as New York City and London.
Hong Kong has a unique governing system. Once a British colony, since 1997, it has been a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. That means that while legally part of China, Hong Kong is a dependency with a high degree of autonomy. It has its own laws, separate immigration controls, and financial system. Hong Kong is bilingual, with both Chinese and English as official languages.
While I work closely with my colleagues at Notre Dame Beijing, my office represents Notre Dame in Hong Kong, but also collaborates with partners across a very large area: Japan, Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Greater China regions, including mainland China, Macau, and Taiwan.
Why is that one thing—operating collaboratively and holistically—so important to Notre Dame Hong Kong?
“Our extensive parent and alumni networks work with me to recruit students, offer internships and study abroad experiences, and facilitate faculty exchanges and engagement. Operating collaboratively and holistically is how we get things done!”
CATHERINE LEUNG: Working with this highly interconnected approach from our very beginning, Notre Dame Hong Kong sponsored the first-ever Notre Dame Global Forum in 2015—only one year after our founding. That event brought together over 300 people, including university leadership, faculty, and members of our international community of alumni and friends, to explore global issues related to the theme “Ethical Leadership in a Globalized World.”
Notre Dame Hong Kong can claim some of the strongest, most engaged alumni and parent networks among US universities, with active clubs and family communities throughout Asia. Parent and alumni clubs organize events to recruit new students and welcome exchange students, faculty, and university administrators. They also sponsor networking events and offer career development support, internships, and lifelong connections. The clubs are frequently the avenue by which students gain access to Global Professional Experience programs, research opportunities, and funding to deepen their academic and professional growth.
Continuing with that theme of collaboration and holistic action, I want to highlight Notre Dame’s Greater China Scholars Program, the University’s premier merit scholars’ program for international students. Greater China Scholars was the idea of a Notre Dame parent—Albert Cheng. He joined with University leaders in recognizing the critical importance of encouraging exceptional students from throughout the world to attend Notre Dame—students who are not only top scholars but leaders concerned about the greater good. Mr. Cheng established a foundation and solicited sponsorships from other foundations, alumni, parents, and friends. Since the program’s establishment in 2011, and supported by both Notre Dame Hong Kong and Notre Dame Beijing, the program has supported roughly 20 students from the Greater China region every year to attend Notre Dame for undergraduate studies.
What does that one thing reveal about Notre Dame Hong Kong and the region itself?
“It is all about relationships and connections—and then drawing on those connections and leveraging them for the greater good.”
CATHERINE LEUNG: Like the World Wide Web, Hong Kong is a connector—within Asia and also between Asia and the world. Similarly, at Notre Dame Hong Kong, we operate as a connector.
For Notre Dame students, the connection can be Hong Kong’s world-famous universities. All of our exchange-partner universities in Hong Kong are ranked among the world's top 50 universities according to the QS World University Rankings. They include The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong, and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Every year, 20 students study abroad at one of these institutions. In the summer, we host additional students in the Global Professional Experience and Global Research Experience programs in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia.
For faculty, too, these universities are a frequent connector. A recent example is the work of Notre Dame faculty member Patrick Yim, assistant professor of violin and viola, and his innovative collaborations with Hong Kong musicians. With the help of a Notre Dame Global Asia Research Collaboration Grant, Professor Yim worked with composers based at the top universities in Hong Kong to create and cultivate a global arts community dedicated to transcultural music and aesthetics. He has a bold and exciting vision—one in which we are proud to share by facilitating collaborations and connections.
Learn more about the work of Notre Dame Hong Kong and the University of Notre Dame’s global network, or browse related articles:
- Women who inspire: Catherine Leung
- Student Reflects on First-of-Its-Kind Engineering Program in Hong Kong
- From giving a TEDx Talk to starting a sustainability initiative, one student’s transformational experience in Hong Kong
- International symposium in Hong Kong offers insights into the early Chinese empire
Learn more about the collaborative work and partners of Notre Dame Hong Kong
Greater China Scholars Program
Notre Dame’s premier merit scholars’ program for international students, the Greater China Scholars Program, was conceived and founded in 2011 by University parent Albert Cheng.
The scholarship program has advanced Notre Dame’s goal to internationalize the campus by recruiting not just the brightest scholars from the Greater China region, but also young people who demonstrate leadership and a commitment to the betterment of society.
In addition to merit-based scholarships, the program provides its scholars with a full range of opportunities to advance across the spheres of spirituality, intellect, and leadership.
Notre Dame Hong Kong and Notre Dame Beijing work closely to recruit and identify promising scholars. Each year, approximately 20 students are chosen.
Just one example of a Greater China Scholar is Dr. Jenny Ng ’17. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she studied political science at Notre Dame and economics at Peking University before making a leap into medicine. After completing her medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania, she is now a resident in plastic and reconstructive surgery at Stanford Medicine.
Read more: The 14-year history of Notre Dame's Greater China Scholars program
Music faculty member Patrick Yim leads cross-cultural work in Hong Kong
With funding from Notre Dame Global’s Asia Research Collaboration Grant, Patrick Yim, assistant professor of violin and viola, traveled to Hong Kong in 2024 to work with Loo Sze-wang, the preeminent sheng player in Hong Kong.
Yim has long been enamored with Hong Kong and its music. He and Sze-wang had discovered during a previous visit that there were few, if any, compositions specifically for violin and sheng. Yim’s proposal to create an all-new body of work for this combination, funded by the grant, resulted in a wealth of compositions and, ultimately, two performances: one for the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble and a second one on Notre Dame’s home campus.
These compositions and performances are part of Yim’s project, Transnational Sonic Encounters, combining classical and traditional material and techniques. The result is a hybrid music that Yim hopes will “cultivate a global arts community through intercultural exchange and reimagine transcultural aesthetics.”
Read more: Faculty member’s cross-cultural work in Hong Kong bears innovative compositions
Working at the front lines of cancer research in Taiwan
For summer 2025, Jennifer Leon ’27, a global affairs major and Asian studies minor, chose a Global Research Experience in Taipei, Taiwan, with a placement at OBI Pharma Inc., a global clinical-stage oncology company.
At OBI, she was on the front lines, testing new theories and making changes as challenges arose. She described the research at OBI as “super innovative” and found that she loved being a part of such an endeavor.
In addition to learning through her research, Jennifer also navigated cultural changes in and out of the lab.
“I took my time in the program to learn how to spend time with and trust myself more,” she shares, emphasizing how the experience ended up being a great lesson in independence and self-reliance. “The program and its location felt like a safe environment. . . to get out of my comfort zone to try new things.”
Originally published by at global.nd.edu on May 27, 2026.