The Review 2007

TheVice-Chancellor’s Message When I took up the post of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong five years ago, I realised that my arrival coincided with the opening of a window of opportunity. Change was in the air not only for the University, but the entire tertiary sector in Hong Kong. Here at the University, we recognised that our fine academic foundation needed a more modern management structure to support our world-class aspirations. Universities as a whole had also just been asked to identify areas of strength and position themselves accordingly. The desire for change was to happily converge with the availability of new resources, for Hong Kong was preparing to restructure its education system to reduce secondary school education by one year and expand undergraduate education from three years to four. This would require considerable investment in tertiary education. As you will read in these pages, we are now mid-way through a transformation that is solidifying our position as a leading international institution and preparing us for a 40 per cent increase in student numbers due to the four-year curriculum and increased intake of non-local students. Our first aim has been to reform our management because good management is the engine that will drive our growth. We now have a streamlined administrative structure that is more transparent, accountable and fit for purpose, and a human resources management system that enables us to reward individuals according to their performance. The final piece was put in place in 2007 when all of our appointed deans took up their posts. With that driving force in place, we have been able to turn our attention to the University’s future direction. The expansion to a four-year curriculum is not simply a quantitative change. We are using this once in a lifetime opportunity to develop a broad-based, flexible, student- centred curriculum that features a common core of study, increased international exposure and opportunities to cope with novel situations, and that remains competitive with the best universities in the world. We will start piloting some aspects of the new curriculum in 2008 because we want all of our students to benefit as soon as possible from these changes. A physical transformation is also underway to accommodate our growing numbers and to develop new infrastructure according to the needs of our new curriculum. The new Centennial Campus, to be built to the west of the Main Campus, will be both a place of learning and a valued green space in the community. In 2006-07 we completed numerous consultations with the community in which we emphasised our commitment to sustainability, heritage preservation and the development of a modern learning environment. The curriculum and campus will provide the structure for change. The heart and soul, however, will be the staff who carry it out. We have an accomplished, international staff of academics, a number of them leaders in their fields. We also have a very satisfactory ratio of students to staff, both academic and non-academic, which we are determined to maintain as we expand. Therefore, we will recruit an additional 120 academic staff between 2006 and 2009; by 2012 we will have 200 new staff on campus. This recruitment opportunity will be used to strengthen areas of research as well as develop the new curriculum. We are recruiting internationally and the package we offer new staff will be as much about research opportunities and funding, as pay and accommodation. No doubt they will be pleased to see that we consistently receive more funding from the Research Grants Council than any other Hong Kong university and that we are a major recipient of private donations. Changes as deep and substantial as the ones we are undertaking are not always easy, but we have succeeded thus far thanks to the hard work and commitment of our staff, students and alumni. Despite the disruptions, they have maintained our excellent standards and earned outstanding recognition for HKU. In 2007 we were ranked 18th in the Times Higher Education Supplement – QS 2007 table of the world’s top 200 universities, up from 33rd last year. Rankings do not tell the complete picture of a univer- sity’s achievements, but this result is a special milestone for us. When I first arrived here, the Chairman of the University Council, Dr Victor Fung, said he wanted HKU to be one of the top 25 universities in the world and now we are in that elite group. The University also achieved welcome recogni- tion locally in 2007 when we were awarded the Platinum Award in Reader’s Digest Asia Trusted Brands Survey. The engine of change is fine-tuned and ignited, and we are proceeding full speed ahead on a course of continual improvement. With the University’s centenary approaching in 2011, I expect us to be in a position to celebrate both our longevity and the bright future that lies ahead. Professor Lap-Chee Tsui Vice-Chancellor December 2007 on track with OUR transformation