This is my fourth review as Chairman of the Council, and I am very encouraged by how much our Institute has achieved during the past year.

Grounded in the Strategic Plan 2009-12 and Beyond, and under the leadership of former President Professor Anthony B.L. Cheung, our Institute has made significant progress in recent years towards turning “Education-plus”, a vision that guides us in the transformation process, into reality. Today, we can confidently say that the Institute is an “Education-focused, multidisciplinary institution of higher learning with significant research capacity”. In terms of academic programmes, the Institute is now a fully-fledged university-level institution that offers teacher education and complementary disciplines in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Creative Arts and Culture, at the bachelor, master and doctoral levels. Our Institute has also made remarkable progress in research in the last couple of years. The funding secured in highly competitive bids for local and international research grants, and the number of research projects awarded, again reached new heights in 2011-12.

With the conviction that we have completed the major and necessary steps essential for the conferment of university title, our Institute submitted a report entitled Final Preparation for University Title to the Government in January 2012. The report articulates the transformation that our Institute has accomplished, our vision for the future as a University of Education and our role in the wider education landscape. In the report, the Institute also benchmarks its operations against other institutions funded by the University Grants Committee and affirms that it is on a par with its sister universities. After submission of the report, the Institute continues to follow up, and to communicate with relevant stakeholders.

Given that we are a growing institution, talent is pivotal to the Institute’s success. With the implementation of the 3-3-4 academic structure at university level in 2012-13, the competition for talent will be more intense. We have taken steps to enhance staff retention, and a new performance-based pay adjustment system was introduced in July 2011, after extensive consultation across the Institute community. The Institute also encourages and recognises exceptional performance through its newly launched President’s Awards for Outstanding Performance in Teaching, Research, and Administrative Services. At the Awards ceremony held in May 2012, I had the honour of participating and sharing in the joy of the awardees, together with their proud family members and friends, nominators and colleagues. Through the Awards, I trust staff members will appreciate that the Institute attaches great importance to its people, and that outstanding performance will not go unnoticed.

In November 2011, we organised and hosted the Second Asian Roundtable of Presidents of Universities of Education. Similar to the first symposium we organised and hosted in 2009, this was again a resounding success. Presidents and senior leaders from 36 Asian and European universities and higher education institutions converged at the HKIEd to discuss the latest thinking on education and plan future collaboration, a clear indicator of our Institute’s status and prestige within the regional and international education arena.

Towards the end of the 2011-12 academic year, the Institute community learned of the departure of Professor Cheung, who resigned from his post as President to take up a key policy secretary position with the HKSAR Government. While his departure is a great loss to HKIEd, I am sure the Institute community will join me in thanking Professor Cheung for his significant contributions to HKIEd, and to extend to him our best wishes in his important new role of Secretary for Transport and Housing. The Council is conducting an international recruitment exercise for a new President, and in the interim has appointed Professor Cheng Yin-cheong, Vice President (Research and Development) as Acting President. Professor Cheng worked very closely with the former President and with myself to strengthen the Institute’s academic, research and teaching capacity, and under his leadership, I am confident that the Institute’s transformation will continue unimpeded and reach new heights.

I would like to record our special thanks to Council Member Mr Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung, who, like Professor Cheung, recently resigned from the Council to take up the role of Secretary for Justice in the HKSAR Government, and to congratulate former Council Deputy Chairman Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim who has been appointed Secretary for Education in the HKSAR Government. The Council is also indebted to the late Professor Edmond Ko, who made an important contribution to the Institute’s transformation process.

I would also like to express our gratitude to outgoing Council Members, Mrs Lydia Lam, Mr Zero Liu, Ms Bella Lo and Dr Ng Shun-wing, and extend a very warm welcome to new Council Members, Ms Susanna Chiu, Mrs Julie Ma, Professor Ng Tai-kai, Professor Benjamin T’sou, Mr Wong Chun-pong and Mr Dieter Yih. With the support of current and new Council Members, and the entire HKIEd community working in unison, I am confident that our Institute will cross a new threshold in its development in the near future.

Mr Pang Yiu-kai, SBS, JP
Chairman of the Council