The Review 2013

THE REVIEW 2013 ⎜ The Vice-Chancellor's Message our adoption of the term ‘knowledge exchange’. We can learn from others as they can learn from us. The nature of exchange is at all levels, from teaching and learning to service projects. Our partnerships have also reached beyond Hong Kong to the Mainland, the region and internationally. There are now more resources dedicated to these activities, including government funding. In 2013 the University also began honouring our staff members' achievements in knowledge exchange in our annual prize-giving ceremony, which has recognised excellence in teaching and research for many years. A Partnerships webpage has also been launched to help external organisations find out how they can collaborate with HKU. The Bedrock of Our Success For a comprehensive academic institution of higher learning, HKU's success has to be the sum of the collective efforts of all its parts. These parts include talent at all levels, a conducive and sustainable environment, sufficient resources, and extra support, wherever and whenever needed. But it is also essential to have academic freedom and the pursuit of excellence in a free, liberal and diversified campus community, which are the foundations of HKU's success and always will be. To be able to attract the best available talents is vital. Year after year, we have recruited the best students locally. We are now reaching out to the Mainland and launched an Endowed Professorship scheme in 2005. With staunch support from the community, the Hong Kong Government's matching grants and the University's internal funding, HKU has so far established 72 Endowments, each with a minimum of $20 million. The University has also actively encouraged multi- disciplinary research by investing extra resources in recent years. Our Strategic Research Themes (SRTs) provide seed funding to bring together scholars from different fields and in 2013 we announced a new round, featuring 16 SRTs and five emerging themes. We also are engaging across borders, with a particular focus on Mainland China. In 2013 we started construction on the HKU Zhejiang Institute of Research and Innovation, which is scheduled to open in 2014. We have also seen a second HKU-led project awarded funding from the National Basic Research Development Program, and opened our fifth State Key Laboratory. These engagements will only increase in the years ahead. Knowledge Exchange - Sharing in Both Directions Knowledge exchange is the third pillar in our mission, alongside research and teaching and learning. The University has formally recognised knowledge exchange activities, which cover such things as contribution to society and technology transfer, by making it a key performance indicator in the annual Faculty Development Plan and in the Performance Review of staff development. For years, HKU's scholars have been taking up opportunities to translate their research into the community. However, we believe knowledge transfer with the community should happen both ways, hence The University of Hong Kong ⎜ 5 I liken the year's activities to a swan gliding gracefully across a still lake: in reality, the swan is paddling furiously under the lake's surface