A WORLD OF EXPERIENCE
The new position of Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global) has been f illed by Professor
W John Kao, who has been preparing all his life for just such a role.
Extraction from pamphlets in 19th-century China illustrating children’s kidney being removed.
(Photo courtesy of Princeton Library)
It’s clear we have the demographics to say we’re international, but when you dig deeper, you can see that we must do more to have a fully integrated campus.
Professor W John Kao
Professor W John Kao has had about as international an upbringing as one can get. From childhood right up to the start of his academic career, he called almost 30 places across Asia, the United States (US) and Europe ‘home’. Eighteen years ago he decided it was time to settle and so, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he established a thriving research career, started a family and even designed his house. But it seems mobility and the inherent risks and rewards it involves are in his blood.
This summer he uprooted his family and moved to HKU, to take up a position that is new not only to him but to the University. As Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global), his brief is to strengthen HKU’s global networks, presence and engagement.
“I wanted a new challenge and this opportunity was very attractive,” he said. “I feel all my life I have been preparing for this kind of role – moving so many times, and being challenged by so many situations but then taking ownership of that. I think I can share my experiences and also make a contribution in some small way to HKU.”
That contribution entails, firstly, engaging people in debate about just what is meant by ‘internationalisation’ in higher education. At HKU, nearly 60 per cent of staff and more than 20 per cent of undergraduates hold nationality outside Hong Kong, but Professor Kao said the numbers are an incomplete measure.
“It’s clear we have the demographics to say we’re international, but when you dig deeper, you can see that we must do more to have a fully integrated campus,” he said. “The students from the Mainland eat lunch by themselves, as do the students from India and Europe and Hong Kong. These things are not unique to Hong Kong. I’ve seen them happening in state universities in the US, too.
“But given the rich history and experiences of HKU, we are positioned to make a change for the better.”
Professor Kao is eager to communicate with students and provide them with international experiences
on and off campus.
On and off campus
Professor Kao is aiming to promote that change by involving people across campus in the discussion. He has formed a cross-faculty working group on global engagement, sounded out individual professors and student groups, and started to draft some ideas of why and how HKU should be more international.
One point that is important to him is that internationalisation is something that augments other activities, rather than a goal in itself. This has some interesting parallels with other core values of the University such as innovation. “You have to be willing to take risks, such as sitting down with people of different cultures, languages and looks and learning to deal with the uncertainties of how to behave and understand each other,” he said.
“It takes face-to-face contact and being planted down in front of people to know what you have to offer and what you do or do not know.
“I want our students to have international experiences on and off campus because it can help them to define who they can be and their relationship to the rest of the world. It can be life-changing.”
Given that, the global nature of his portfolio is as much about on campus as off. “My job is external – building bridges, connecting dots, finding new opportunities – but equally I need to articulate on campus what internationalisation is and could be, and why it matters.
“Are we training our students for Hong Kong or are we training students who are rooted in Hong Kong but can apply their talents and be successful anywhere?”
Do something you’ve never done
Professor Kao does not offer easy answers – his goal at this stage is to encourage deep and meaningful discussions. He praised HKU’s intention to offer all undergraduates overseas and Mainland experiences by 2022, and said staff should also be encouraged to conduct research with partners outside Hong Kong to tackle grand challenges.
He also sees potential to enhance the many other activities on campus that have an international element, promote more cooperation and inclusiveness in these activities, and provide more support in terms of resources, incentives, benchmarks and global engagement. In general, to give a high-octane boost to HKU’s long-standing goal of being an international university.
“Let me show you my mantra,” he added, holding up his phone. The display read: If you want something you have never had, you have to do something you’ve never done. That sums up Professor Kao’s approach to globalisation, and also to his own decision to come to HKU.