The College's Division of Language Studies (LS) received a donation of $100,000 from Soka Gakkai International of Hong Kong Ltd at a presentation ceremony held at CityU on 18 April. The donation will be used to purchase Japanese language teaching materials for the Applied Japanese Studies programme. It is the second time the Division has received a donation from Soka Gakkai - the first was a series of 25 volumes of the Japanese version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Soka Gakkai, founded by the renowned Japanese philosopher Dr Daisaku Ikeda , is a Buddhist-oriented organization that aims to promote friendship, peace and mutual understanding among people. It also focuses on advancing and improving cultural and educational activities around the world, and many universities have benefited from its generous donations to their academic and cultural programmes. Dr Rita Takahashi , Senior Lecturer in LS said the donation of the Japanese language teaching materials was an important contribution to both the teaching and learning of Japanese studies at CityU.