The Review 2003

4 W hen a community invests in education, it plants a seed. It will take time for that seed to develop into a rich harvest – time that, in these days of immediate returns, may seem an eternity. But when the seed becomes a plant that bears fruit, the benefits are plentiful. Our researchers working today will produce innovations in coming years that will save lives and help society to advance in science and technology, ar ts and the humanities. Our current graduates, armed with knowledge and skills to improve society, will become leaders in thei r f ields and the community in 20 or 30 years’ time. This is the harvest of a university’s work. But in order to share in that harvest, society must continue to plant and cultivate new seeds. At The University of Hong Kong we have received substantial financial support from the communi ty and the government over the years. This support has enabled us to develop academic programmes that are recognised locally and internationally for their quality and high standards. For example, our teaching and learning programme received much praise from an independent external review panel in 2002-03 commissioned by the University Grants Committee that included international experts who have examined many leading inst i tut ions around the wor ld. The panel expressed conf idence that we had the processes in place to enable us to grow and develop without sacrificing quality. The high standards we set are a critical factor in our cont inued abi l i ty to attract the br ightest students and keep them in Hong Kong, where they can contribute to society for many years to come. The University’s strong reputation, which we have worked for many years to bui ld up, has also enabled us to at t ract talented academics. Many are well-regarded internationally. In 2003, 18 of our scientists were ranked among the top one per cent global ly in their f ields by the Inst i tute for Scient i f ic Informat ion. Once again, our scholars received the largest amount of funding from the Research Grants Council of all Hong Kong universities, as they have done for six of the past seven years. In return, they produced the highest number of peer- reviewed publ icat ions per academic and research staff member in the region. They also made significant contributions to the community in all areas which were clearly seen dur ing the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Years of research and developing expertise bore fruit when our scholars became the first to identify the coronavirus as the cause of SARS, among many other breakthroughs on the disease. Without that earl ier research experience, Hong Kong and the rest of the wor ld might not have benef i ted from our ef for ts. The Uni versi ty communi ty also supported society outside of the laboratory. Our students, staff and alumni were very active in treating patients and helping people to come to terms with the disease. Sadly, we were not untouched by the virus. Three of our alumni Dr James Lau Tai-kwan (MBBS 1969; MPhi l 1999) , Dr Thomas Cheung Sik-hin (MBBS 1970), and Dr Kate Cheng Ha-yan (MBBS 1997) died of SARS after treating infected patients, making the ultimate sacrifice in service to the community. The Review 2003 INVESTING IN OUR FUTURE “When we talk about a knowledge based economy it’s about investment in developing new knowledge and people – HKU… helped build Hong Kong. It’s part of the infrastructure and equation and you can’t take it away”. Lap-Chee Tsui, Vice-Chancellor, June 2003 3 Competitive Earmarked Research Grants Exercise 1997–2004 HKU Other local tertiary institutions