The Review 2015

5 Message from the President and Vice-Chancellor Research Another confidence boost came from the Thomson Reuters ‘ Highly Cited Researchers’ 2015 table. Nine HKU scholars are among the most highly-cited in their fields in the world, compared with no more than three at any other Hong Kong higher education institution. Although the ranking focuses on science, medicine and engineering, it is a useful illustration of the excellence of our academic staff. Another tangible example is that HKU researchers again secured the highest amount ($150.19 million this year) of government-backed General Research Fund grants, as we have done every year since 2002. We also received the results of the 2014 Research Assessment Exercise and I was pleased to see that our strongest performers covered a breadth of disciplines (such as chemistry and visual arts) as befits a comprehensive university. Some 51 per cent of HKU research was ranked internationally excellent or world-leading, a figure that is a source of pride but also tells us we could do much better. Moving forward, we will seek ways to improve the quality (over quantity) of our research, develop our strengths further and support and encourage our researchers. Another measure of our research quality is the quality of our partners. Individual faculties, departments and scholars have collaborations with many of the best universities in the world and I hope to see more of this. We also have institutional-level collaborations, including the new partnership with the Karolinska Institutet, which chose Hong Kong as the site of its first physical presence outside Sweden, and in which HKU plays a major part. This reflects the world-class quality of our scholars and also our importance as a bridge to China, which I will discuss further below. We will continue to welcome and pursue such international collaborations. Impact in the Community Our ultimate goal is to achieve the greatest societal benefits from our teaching and research, and in this respect HKU has been a leader in Hong Kong. We have been building capacity and developing strategies that take our know-how from the campus to the community through technology transfer, entrepreneurship and knowledge exchange. In 2014–15 we made an important strategic shift to bring technology transfer under the management of the Knowledge Exchange Office, rather than being left in its own compartment. Technology transfer matters to our broader goal of making an impact in the community. The restructuring coincided with a sharp increase in the commercialisation of our research and the launch of HKU start-ups. Indeed, technology transfer is a driver for entrepreneurship, which we are especially keen to encourage. In May 2015, our DreamCatchers programme was launched at an event that attracted 1,200 participants, including prominent entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and China. The aim is to inspire and nurture entrepreneurship among our scholars, students and alumni. We want to light a spark in our graduates in particular. For nine consecutive years, our graduates have achieved full employment; we want to encourage them to think outside the box and consider alternative careers. They may well say, with jobs waiting on the doorstep, what motivation is there to take risks and be entrepreneurial? In fact, that is precisely what HKU and Hong Kong need, and it is our responsibility to facilitate that. Mainland and International Collaboration HKU has regional and global relationships, responsibilities and aspirations. A central part of my mission is to enhance HKU’s visibility on the world stage, including promoting our unique status as the only English-language comprehensive university in China. The leaders of a number of the world’s best universities have indicated to me that they see a partnership with HKU as strategically important. Our deep connections with and knowledge about the Mainland have become a unique selling point that works both ways: we are the bridge into and out of China. An example is our arrangement with Cambridge University to interview Mainland candidates for its engineering programme. This small gesture represents an investment in our relationship with Cambridge and also with these students, who may elect to do their second or third degree at HKU. The results so far are spectacular with 100 per cent of these students achieving 1 st class honours at Cambridge. The Review 2015 Town and Gown Connection “The opening of the HKU Mass Transit Railway station at the end of 2014 was important to us for practical and symbolic reasons. It allows us to have a different mindset about the geography of our operations. It also connects us more firmly to the Hong Kong community. More people can, and are, coming to our campus to see the great things we are doing,” Peter Mathieson.