The Review 2004

n reflecting on the events and achievements at the University over the past year, I have been struck by the diligence, aspirations to excellence and unbending commitment demonstrated by our students and academics. These qual ities are embodied in people such as student Vicky Chan Wai Kei, the windsurfer featured on the cover of this report . Vicky won a gold medal in the World University Games in July, and is training for the Olympic Games in 2008. At the same time, she is pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering degree. Her abi l ity to meet the rigorous demands of international competition and academic study are remarkable, but what is most satisfying for me is that she is not an exception. Many of our students and academics are high-achievers and they are able to succeed thanks to a strong support base here at the University. They have access to the best tools, techniques, information and experiences, and they work and learn in an environment that encourages risk-taking. The result is not only individual excellence, but greater recognition for the University as a whole for the high quality of our graduates and research. The University has performed well in several international surveys recently, a source of satisfaction for many in our community. Of course, we aspire to do even better in future. Central to that goal is a system to ensure we uphold, and improve on, our high standards. We continually review our performance to identify strengths and areas of improvement, and in 2004 we were told informally that we did extremely wel l in a performance indicator exercise conducted by the University Grants Committee (UGC) . So not only do we achieve high standards, we have a system in place to ensure we continue to do so. This feedback followed an evaluation of teaching and learning in 2003 by the UGC, in which we were highly commended. The high quality of our programmes helps us attract funding and a steady flow of accomplished scholars and students. We received the lion’s share of competitively bid research grants in Hong Kong in 2003-04. Our academics continued to receive honours from abroad and from Mainland China for their research achievements and had the highest number of refereed publications among the Hong Kong tertiary institutions. Vice-Chancellor’s Message T H E R E V I E W 2 0 0 4 3 THE vice -chancellor ’s Messag I A M essage from the V ice- C hancellor