The Review 2004

4 T H E R E V I E W 2 0 0 4 T H E R E V I E W 2 0 0 4 5 THE vice -chancellor ’s Message role differentiation and pooling of resources. The Joint Centre for Advanced Study, announced in 2004, is one result of this effort, in which the University will work with The Chinese University of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) to offer joint courses to research postgraduate students of the three institutions. In addition, the business schools of the University and HKUST are exploring the options for deep collaboration. Further afield, a number of significant partnerships were finalised during the year. For example, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology approved the establishment at the University of a State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the first and only State Key Laboratory located outside the Mainland. An international consortium on Chinese medicine, which includes Yale University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and 14 other members, appointed the University as its headquarters. The World Trade Organisation named the University as the official training centre for its elite regional trade policy courses for government officials in the entire Asia-Pacific region, and the inaugural programme in 2004 attracted participants from 32 countries. The emphasis on internationalism is a crucial one. We have the standards, people and resources to provide world-class education and research. But in order to remain competitive and continue to attract talent and funding, we need to be outward looking – we need to widen the door through which people and ideas flow. Collaborative research with parties outside Hong Kong is one way of developing international isation on campus and we wi l l continue to pursue such opportunities. Another way is to bring more non-local students to the University. Currently, about 1,030 students are from outside Hong Kong, including the contingent of high quality students from the Mainland. We are intent on increasing that figure and expanding our recruitment net further in Asia, North America and Europe, to recruit more students from diverse cultures and ethnic backgrounds. Talented young researchers also showed keen interest in coming to the University. Applications for research postgraduate positions outnumbered places by 10 to one in 2004 and more than half had first-class honours degrees or equivalent. Our Academic Development Proposals for 2005-08 suggest increasing these positions by 50 per cent and the UGC is now responding to our request. The University’s undergraduate and other programmes also admitted more top-performing Hong Kong students than any other local institution and attracted interest from a growing number of outstanding students from outside Hong Kong, including the Mainland. Some 212 Mainland students out of over 2,000 applicants were admitted to undergraduate programmes during the year, including many who had qualified for admission to esteemed institutions such as Beida, Tsinghua and Fudan. One of the attractions for students is our emphasis on student-centred learning and innovations in the classroom. Problem-based and enquiry learning, in particular, is producing measurable improvements in graduates from the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Dentistry and helping students in other faculties to develop teamwork, independence, leadership and creative approaches to problems. Our extensive extra- curricular programme also promotes whole-person development of students, through a great variety of sporting, cultural, general education and other activities. Occasional gl itches mar our achievements. Incidents of plagiarism arose on campus during the year that highlighted the need to provide greater moral guidance and leadership to our students. This, too, is the role of a quality university. We believe we must help our students to not only acquire core competencies, but to learn how to be honourable citizens and leaders. The achievements of our talented staff and students have helped to further enhance our reputation, to the extent that the University is increasingly regarded as an important collaborator in Hong Kong and abroad. Locally, this is in part due to the government’s effort to promote greater Exposing students to people from different cultures encourages flexibility and openness to new ideas.