I am most pleased to present my overview for The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) in the fourth year of my tenure. This was indeed a monumental and fruitful year, the first complete year after EdUHK’s retitling. I would like to highlight some of the University’s major developments and achievements during the year, which would not have been possible without the concerted efforts and unswerving support of our staff, students, alumni, friends and stakeholders.
Long-term planning is crucial for any university in realising its vision and mission. This is especially so for EdUHK, as a publicly funded university with a unique mission in teacher education and complementary disciplines. The first blueprint for EdUHK, the Strategic Plan 2016-2025, was promulgated during the year, following an extensive engagement and consultation exercise. Representing the collective wisdom of the University community, the Strategic Plan reflects our strong commitment to promoting innovative learning and teaching, nurturing competent and caring educators, strengthening education leadership, and fostering students’ whole-person development, with equal emphasis on applied research and knowledge transfer. This will form the basis of our strategic priorities and focus areas for the next decade in response to the rapidly changing landscape in education and beyond.
Equally, if not more important, is our ongoing commitment to quality enhancement, which is shared by both academic and non-academic staff across the board. I am pleased to report that our quality culture was recognised and commended by the Quality Assurance Council (QAC) of the University Grants Committee (UGC) in its second QAC Quality Audit Report on our University, released in June 2017. This is an external quality assurance process applicable to all eight UGC-funded universities in Hong Kong – a process through which we can reflect upon our strengths and areas for continuous enhancement. Particularly encouraging are the QAC’s recognition, affirmation and commendations of our Education-plus approach, student learning, quality culture, internationalisation strategies and high-quality learning opportunities for undergraduate and research postgraduate students, among other things. This is the best testimony to the great strides and remarkable progress the University has made on various fronts in the past few years.
Three new UGC-funded, five-year Bachelor of Education programmes, namely the Bachelor of Education (Honours) in Chinese History, Bachelor of Education (Honours) in Science, and Bachelor of Education (Honours) in Geography, were launched during the year to groom more secondary school teachers in view of projected demographic changes in Hong Kong. Also implemented as planned were a new four-year Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Special Education programme to groom practitioners in school or community settings to cater for students with special educational needs, in addition to three new co-terminal double degree programmes, namely the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Creative Arts and Culture and Bachelor of Education (Honours) in Music, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Creative Arts and Culture and Bachelor of Education (Honours) in Visual Arts, and Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Language Studies and Bachelor of Education (Honours) in English Language. Together with the existing programmes, these new undergraduate programmes help broaden the University’s academic capacity and multidisciplinary development.
Our postgraduate student population also continued to grow, with an increasing number of international students enrolled in our taught and research postgraduate programmes. For the first time, two new PhD students were selected by the Research Grants Council (RGC) to receive the prestigious Hong Kong PhD Fellowship to pursue studies at our University commencing in the 2017/18 academic year.
On the research front, we came first again in terms of both the number of funded projects and the awarded amount in the subject discipline of Education in the RGC’s General Research Fund (GRF) and Early Career Scheme (ECS) funding exercises 2017/18. Out of the 31 awarded projects in the subject discipline of Education under the GRF and the ECS, 11 went to EdUHK, with total funding of over HK$7 million, representing more than one third of the overall funding amount. Equally impressive was the performance of our early-career academics in the subject disciplines of Humanities and Arts, and Psychology and Linguistics. It has been most encouraging to witness the growth of our research capacity in recent years, thanks in no small part to the good mix of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary projects and the good synergy among our senior and early-career academics.
Together with 33 newly funded projects worth HK$18.28 million in the latest GRF and ECS exercises, the University is undertaking a total of 178 research projects funded by the RGC and other funding bodies, with total funding of HK$111.8 million.
We place equal emphasis on the application and dissemination of the University-owned, research-based knowledge to benefit the school sector and the community. In this connection, the Knowledge Transfer (KT) Unit of the Research and Development Office was upgraded to become the KT Sub-office in late 2016 with a view to facilitating KT by forging collaboration with different sectors. In a similar vein, a new KT domain was introduced under the President’s Award Scheme 2016/17 to honour those with outstanding performance in the area.
We are thankful for each donation, big or small. The University has continued to receive strong philanthropic support for its ongoing endeavours to address the educational and social needs of the community. With the generous donations from our donors, we kicked off and embarked on an array of projects and initiatives to promote life and values education, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, sports education, teaching innovation, learning for special needs and social inclusion, among others. This has been made possible through our interdisciplinary expertise, pedagogical knowledge and extensive partnerships with local and overseas universities, local schools, social organisations and civil society.
Global and regional rankings are by no means the be-all and end-all, but they reflect recognition of our academic standing, strengths and impact. In this regard, I am pleased with the increasing recognition of our educational leadership in Asia and the world, as consistently evidenced in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject in the past three consecutive years. In the QS ranking 2017, EdUHK ranked second in Asia and 13th in the world in Education.
During the year, we continued to foster new academic partnerships and collaborations in terms of joint programme offerings, research projects and exchange programmes with leading regional and global universities. As at the end of June 2017, EdUHK had formed partnerships with about 190 universities and other institutions on different continents, with our students leaving their footprints in over 20 overseas countries. More will be done to attract undergraduate and postgraduate students from our neighbouring regions, especially those from “One Belt, One Road” countries.
On a more personal level, I feel honoured to be given the opportunity to serve EdUHK for another five-year term, effective 1 September 2018. I am deeply grateful for the trust the Council and the University community have placed in me, and I am keenly aware of the enormous responsibility that goes with the reappointment. I would like to take this opportunity to register my most sincere gratitude to all former and current Council officers and members, staff, students, alumni, supporters and other stakeholders who have so kindly rendered me their unfailing support over the years.
As EdUHK President, I take great pleasure in sharing the pride and joy of our graduates each year. This exhilaration was particularly strong at the 22nd Congregation last year, when our doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s degrees and other academic awards were conferred under the new title of The Education University of Hong Kong. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing the happy faces of our graduates, who stand ready with self-confidence and anticipation to embark on a new journey after the completion of their university studies. After all, this is what university education is all about.
In the years ahead, we will continue to adhere to our vision of becoming a leading university in the Asia Pacific region and beyond, with a focus on teacher education, as well as educational research and innovation. We remain committed to our long-held Education-plus approach, which has guided us in our transformation as an education-focused university.
To cope with the long-term growth of the University and its corresponding increase in learning, teaching and research activities, the University is seeking government’s support for the construction of a new academic building on the Tai Po campus, in addition to the establishment of a town centre tailored for the professional development of in-service teachers. These capital projects are crucial to the University’s long-term development. While we have started the ball rolling, we do understand it may take years before their actual completion given the elaborate and stringent scrutiny process. Nevertheless, I look forward to the flourishing campus development in the coming years.
Professor Stephen Y. L. Cheung, BBS, JP
Officier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques
President
December 2017