The Institute is devoted to advancing scholarship and transferring the knowledge it creates to schools and the wider education community. In the process, we help contribute to lifelong learning and human betterment in Hong Kong, the Mainland and the region, where education has long been regarded as the principal engine of social progress and mobility. In return, the Institute receives tremendous community support for its academic contributions.

The Institute has established itself as a hub in the fields of special and inclusive education, including guidance and counselling, and gifted education. We are playing a key role in the Asia-Pacific region in the paradigm shift towards inclusive education, leading and shaping the discussion locally and globally to better prepare teachers to facilitate access for all learners.

During the year, more than 5,200 pre-and in-service teachers, 40 organisations representing 14 countries and 86 teacher educators participated in our activities. We support the move towards a whole-school approach to catering for diversity within Hong Kong, and aim at promoting it locally and internationally, to teachers, teacher educators and educational organisations.

With its long and established partnership with schools, the Institute seeks to contribute to enhancing teacher quality, improving teaching methods and advancing teaching and learning within the wider education community. That collaboration was further fortified through the sealing of agreements on 8 December 2010 between the Institute and four major school sponsoring bodies: the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, the Anglican (Hong Kong) Primary School Council, the Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China and the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals.

Under the collaborative framework, the school sponsoring bodies and the Institute will work even more closely together in the pursuit of excellence in educational research and development. Both sides will pursue significant institutional-level activities, such as the organisation of leadership and teacher development programmes, support in pre-service field experience, and the hosting of conferences, seminars and workshops.

Four distinguished professors were named Endowed Chair Professors in recognition of their research and academic achievements at a ceremony on 23 March 2011. The first Endowed Chair Professorships were supported by three generous and visionary donors: the Chiang Chen Industrial Charity Foundation, the Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust, and Mrs Nancy Lee, wife of the late Peter T C Lee, former Chairman of Hysan Development.

The scholars were respectively named Chiang Chen Chair Professor of Linguistics and Language Sciences (Professor Benjamin T’sou Ka-yin), Joseph Lau Chair Professor of International Educational Leadership (Professor Allan Walker), Joseph Lau Chair Professor of Leadership and Change (Professor Philip Hallinger) and Peter T C Lee Chair Professor of Health Studies (Professor Joanne Chung Wai-yee).

The Institute has continued to collaborate with other external stakeholders and NGOs such as the Roundtable, and green and arts groups. We are a supporting organisation of the annual Social Enterprise Summit of Hong Kong.

During the year, two major research-based exhibitions, entitled “Under The Trees: the History of Hong Kong’s Village Schools” and “From Rooftop Schools to Post-Millennium Schools: The Post-War Evolution of School Buildings in Hong Kong”, were staged by the Hong Kong Museum of Education, established by the Institute on campus in May 2009. The first exhibition explored the origins and styles of village schools in Hong Kong, and their unique role in the local education system. To tie in with this exhibition, invited scholars presented a series of public lectures examining the development of village schools. The second exhibition traced the historical evolution of the building design and development of primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong since 1945, examining how this has reflected the educational concerns and concepts in different periods.

Since its inauguration, the Museum has become a regular stop on the itinerary for many groups visiting the cultural and historical sites of the northern New Territories. Over 50,000 visitors visited the two exhibitions, and a further 370 participants attended the public lecture series.

Discussions on education always strike a chord in the community. To provide a platform for the sharing of views, “Education-plus Dialogues” were organised between September and November 2010. In the four-part series, the Institute’s scholars, members of schools and members of the community engaged in active exchanges with thought leaders from different sectors, including Dr Stephen Fisher, former Director of Social Welfare; Mr Fred Lam, Chief Campaigner of the Roundtable Community; Mr Alfred Cheung, film director, writer and producer; and Mr Leung Chun-ying, Convenor of the Non-official Members of the Executive Council. Attracting extensive audience participation, the Dialogues shed light on topics of wide community concern – inclusive education for ethnic minorities, the post-80s new social movement, the Hong Kong education system and the role of higher education.

The Institute is conscious of its environmental responsibility, striving to reduce its carbon footprint. Since joining the Hong Kong Sustainable Campus Consortium in 2010 along with other local universities, we have sought to become an increasingly environmentally friendly campus through the introduction of alternative energy systems. In 2010-11, the replacement of air-cooled chillers with water-cooled chillers helped to achieve a 25 per cent reduction in electricity consumption compared to the old system. In recognition of our efforts in sustaining and initiating self-improvements in environmental protection, the Institute was granted the IAQwi$e (Class of Excellence) and Wastewi$e (Class of Excellence) Labels of the Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence in early 2011.

In the 2010-11 Fifth Round of the Matching Grant Scheme operated by the University Grants Committee (UGC), around HK$35 million of the HK$37 million the Institute had raised in donations from major donors, supportive alumni and members of the public met the criteria for dollar-for-dollar matching by the UGC. This was the Institute’s best result since the Scheme was introduced in 2003. The funds will help to support a range of teaching and learning initiatives, as well as research and development.

The exemplary performance of our alumni was once again highlighted in the 2010-11 Chief Executive’s Award for Teaching Excellence. The Award recognises achievements in three Key Learning Areas: Mathematics Education, Moral and Civic Education and Special Education (Special Schools). Of the 104 winning teachers, 89 were our alumni, with 40 receiving awards and 49 certificates of merit. These recipients have been invited to extend their support to the Institute as Teaching Consultants, to benefit our staff and students.