Applied research to enhance the quality of education
The nurturing of quality students is our primary mission and we believe that engagement in research is vital to achieve that. An active and adequately funded research agenda is important for the academic vitality of the Institute. Our research strategy therefore encourages applied research and scholarship in areas that enhance teaching, schools and policy development so as to help improve the overall quality of education in Hong Kong. The stage of maturity we have attained in research puts us in a good position to fulfil our mission.

The development of staff capacity for scholarship is supported through a coordinated infrastructure which ensures accountability and encourages both self-activated and institutional research initiatives. Staff are encouraged and supported to engage in research projects and a number of funding sources are available through competitive bidding. Seven major research funding sources supported 180 of the 219 research and development projects underway in the reporting year.

The Institute reserves part of its recurrent funds as seed money for research projects. In addition, developments in teaching and learning effectiveness are encouraged through internal teaching development grants. The University Grants Committee (UGC) also supports the scholarship of teaching through earmarked Teaching Development Grants which staff must compete for. Two important projects were successful this year - the Learning Oriented Assessment Project and the Alliance for Educational Innovations.

We have also been especially successful in bidding for project funds from the Quality Education Fund (QEF). The Institute has received grants of over $77 million for 49 projects since the establishment of the QEF. This year five important projects were supported, and received over HK$11 million.

Expanding research and scholarly capacity
We have devoted significant efforts to upgrade our staff profile in teaching and research and the outcomes have been promising. We have actively supported the upgrading of staff qualifications and the acquisition of research degrees. The doctoral research undertaken by staff covers a wide range of topics in education and teacher education and has enhanced staff research capacity as well as their teaching expertise.

Illustrating the growth in our research capacity is a greatly improved research output. In the reporting year, a number of important funded projects have addressed key issues and areas of development relevant to schooling in Hong Kong.

The number of funded research projects undertaken by staff members has increased from 160 in 1998-99 to 219 in 2002-03 and the research funding more than doubled since then. The research output (in terms of the number of refereed scholarly books and monographs, journal articles and chapters) increased by over 120% over the four years.