The Review 2006

The Review 2006 The Review 2006 be accessible to the local community, thereby creating a ‘University District’. Four architectural consortia proposed broad master plans based on our Vision and we consulted the public on these in the first half of 2006. A wide range of stakeholders was invited to share their views in keeping with our commitment to involve the community in the entire process of campus development. Staff and students, local residents, community groups, green groups and the Central and Western District Council provided input. Four public exhibitions were staged and received 16,000 visitors, who were also asked to give their feedback on the four plans. Ecological and sustainability issues were of particular concern. After considering all submissions and views, the University decided to award the consultancy contract to Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd / Sasaki Associates. Sustainability and heritage principles figured strongly in their plan, supporting the aim of creating a green oasis in an urban neighbourhood. Detailed design work is now underway and we will consult the public on this in 2007. The Government has also provided feedback and agreed to fund up to $1.2 billion of the costs. The University will seek to cover the remaining $1.3 billion needed through donations and fund-raising activities. The new campus is the hardware in our preparations for the four-year undergraduate curriculum. We also need to substantially increase the software – the professoriate staff. We will need to appoint 200 more academic staff before 2012 to allow time for them to settle in and participate in preparations for the new intake. The first stage of recruitment started in 2006 and we expect to recruit 120 new staff in the next three years. Reforming our Organisation The University undertook major changes to its governance and management structure in 2004 to make it more fit for purpose, more efficient andmore accountable. In the spirit of this reform, we are continuing with organisational changes that will enhance our performance. One of our priorities is to appoint full-time Deans in each faculty. All but two appointments have been made including, during the academic year 2005-06, the Deans of Architecture, Arts, Engineering, Science and Social Sciences. Alongside this we have been rationalising faculty structures to reduce the administrative load on scholars and promote greater collaborative, inter- and multi-disciplinary research. In 2006 the Senate agreed to restructure the Faculty of Arts into five schools – Chinese, Cultures and Humanities, English, Geography, and Modern Languages. The formerly independent Centre of Asian Studies was allocated to the Faculty of Social Sciences. And it was agreed to establish a School of Biological Sciences in the Faculty of Science in July 2007, encompassing the Departments of Botany, Ecology and Biodiversity, and Zoology. While undergoing all of these changes, we have not neglected our roots. The University will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2011, a centenary that in this corner of the world has been shaken by change, war and revolution. Our entanglement and observations on these and other events have been largely stored in piecemeal fashion from public view, and even from the gaze of scholars. In 2006 we appointed an archivist, Stacy Gould (pictured right), to bring our history further into the light and develop a system for preserving and documenting the University’s past, present and future.