Sir Lee Quo Wei, for many years a senior figure in Hong Kong's banking community, has an impressive record of public service in Hong Kong. He has served on the Legislative Council from 1968 to 1978, and on the Executive Council from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1988. Amongst his many interests in the field of public service, Sir Lee numbers the Chairmanships of the Hong Kong Heart Foundation and the Hong Kong Kidney Foundation, and the Vice-Chairmanship of the Asian Foundation for the Prevention of Blindness. For his distinguished and wide-ranging participation in public affairs in Hong Kong, Sir Lee was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1977, and was knighted in 1988.
It is probably for his work for education, however, that Sir Lee is best known. From 1976 to 1983 he was chairman of the Board of Education, the principal governmental advisory body on pre-primary, primary and secondary education. He has also been Chairman of the Council of the Chinese University of Hong Kong since 1982 and has been a member of the Court of the University of Hong Kong since 1970. Sir Lee's greatest challenge in the field of education came in 1984 when he was appointed as the first Chairman of the Education Commission which was then being set up by the Governor to advise on the development of education in Hong Kong. The Commission's recommendations, in a series of reports, are widely regarded as destined to have far-reaching effects on the future of the territory, although not all of them have escaped criticism.
In recognition of his work for education and the community, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa.
