Teaching and Research in 2020-21: Embarking froma Position of Strength First, it was very pleasing to see the University sustain its existing strengths given the restrictions of COVID-19 that have been felt around the world. We attracted the most top scorers in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) of all Hong Kong universities (admitting 76 candidates who scored 5** in four or more core subjects), as well as strong candidates from Mainland China and overseas. I also took great pride in our students’ sporting achievements at this year’s Tokyo Olympics, where three current students and two alumni represented Hong Kong. Our teachers kept up their high standards and ensured students fulfilled curriculum requirements, despite having to adapt to the online environment. After much careful preparation and due consideration to health and safety, the University was able to resume mostly face-toface learning in September 2021. This has energised everyone. Being on campus and interacting in person is essential to students’ learning and personal development, and it makes teaching and learning immensely more enjoyable. It is also the preference of both staff and students. Having said that, we will continue to explore the use of technology to enrich learning and take it in new directions. Honours came in for both teaching and research achievements during the year. HKU won the University Grants Committee’s 2021 Teaching Awards for general faculty members and teams, while 31 researchers were named by Clarivate as being among the most highly cited scholars in their fields in the world. Our researchers also received numerous international and national honours for outstanding work, as described in the Research and Innovation chapter. Most importantly, the high quality of our research output across the University was endorsed in the Research Grants Council’s Research Assessment Exercise, which is held every five years. Some 75% of our research output was deemed internationally excellent or world-leading – a fantastic increase on previous performance when 50% of output met this bar. We also had the highest proportion of world-leading research of all universities. Our performance in local competitive funding exercises also continued to be the best in Hong Kong, while we secured the most projects under InnoHK where we lead nine laboratories receiving more than HK$3 billion in total. These are strong foundations. However, I believe we have the potential to reach far greater heights. HKU is facing a wave of exceptional opportunities and fierce competition from others around the region, and we need to act quickly to sustain and advance our position. My team and I have taken on that challenge with a vision that asks everyone from professors and students to managers and support staff: how can we do better? Campus development has been amajor focus of activity from the beginning of my tenure and I ampleased to report that we aremaking excellent progress. Over the coming five years, a number of new developments will reach completion. HKU ANNUAL REPORT 2021 Message from the President and Vice-Chancellor 4 | 5
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