It is my greatest pleasure to present my first review in my new capacity as Council Chairman of The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). I am honoured to have been appointed earlier this year, and I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my predecessor, Dr YK Pang, for his exemplary leadership and invaluable contribution during his 15 years of service on the Council, which laid a solid foundation for us to build on.

Education has always been close to my heart, and I am deeply indebted to my teachers for their guidance and inspiration during my secondary school and university life. As the only publicly funded university in Hong Kong focusing on teacher education, EdUHK plays an important and distinct role in nurturing outstanding educators, passionate talents and future leaders for the community. I am confident that focusing on its niche in education, EdUHK is set to become a hub of education excellence and research, as well as a thought-leader and agenda-setter in education and related disciplines, locally, regionally and globally.

During the year under review, EdUHK witnessed many achievements and progress in learning and teaching, as well as in research and knowledge transfer, which are elaborated in the following chapters. Among them was the very positive Quality Audit Report, released by the Quality Assurance Council (QAC) under the University Grants Committee (UGC) in June this year. I was particularly pleased to note the QAC’s commendation of our quality assurance and enhancement culture, and of the quality of our educational programmes, among other things.

At the top of my agenda is the continuous advancement of EdUHK in academic development, internationalisation and fundraising, which will ultimately benefit our students, the school sector and the wider community. Of equal importance is effective university governance, which is central to all the publicly funded universities. The University Council has pledged its support for the UGC’s governance report, Governance in UGC-funded Higher Education Institutions in Hong Kong, published in 2016, and most of its recommendations have already been adopted. Meanwhile, an engagement exercise has been underway to gauge the views of, and solicit input from, both internal and external stakeholders to review the effectiveness of EdUHK’s current governance structure. At the end of the day, it is imperative that we strike a sensible balance between university autonomy and public accountability in a publicly funded university setting.

As the new Council Chairman, I look forward to meeting our staff, students, alumni and other stakeholders in the days ahead. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to our new Council members, Dr Anissa Chan and Miss Lala Lai, while paying tribute to outgoing members Mrs Julie Ma and Mr Alvin Chu.

Thanks to the concerted efforts of the University Council and community, we have come a long way in the past decade, and I have every confidence that the next decade will be a golden era for EdUHK.

Professor Frederick Ma Si-hang, GBS, JP
Chairman of the Council
December 2017