It is my greatest pleasure to present an overview of the developments at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), which is celebrating its silver jubilee.
The first quarter century has been a transformative journey for EdUHK, from a mono-technic institute, offering sub-degree programmes, into a flagship of excellence in teacher education with complementary disciplines. Our unswerving commitment to education excellence and innovation over the decades has benefited the school sector and the wider community, not only in Hong Kong, but also across the region.
We look forward with confidence to the next 25 years, secure in the knowledge of our academic capabilities and the strong foundation we have established. Taking this opportunity, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to all University members and stakeholders for their unfailing support.
Currently, the University offers a range of self-accredited degree programmes, which are subject to rigorous quality assurance mechanisms. The University’s quality assurance was once again affirmed in October 2018 by a Quality Assurance Council (QAC) panel of local and overseas experts, who reviewed our sub-degree provisions, following a comprehensive quality audit conducted in October 2016 when QAC recognised and commended the high-quality learning experience provided by EdUHK at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Enhancing learning and teaching has been our top priority, given our core mission in teacher education. To this end, an additional HK$150 million has been earmarked to enhance learning, teaching and research over a three-year period. The new funding will be channelled through the three Faculties to facilitate their efforts in achieving the University’s strategic goals, which include the ongoing global recruitment exercise of top scholars and teaching staff to strengthen the University’s academic and research capacities.
EdUHK has long championed the nurturing of 21st century educators and professionals through innovative learning and teaching. In this regard, I am very pleased that a faculty member was awarded the University Grants Committee (UGC) Teaching Award under the category of Early Career Faculty Members in 2018, in recognition of his outstanding teaching performance and achievements and pursuit of academic excellence.
The University is also set to implement the new curriculum for our Bachelor of Education (BEd) programmes in the 2019/20 academic year. The common core curriculum for our non-BEd programmes will be aligned accordingly. In addition to the introduction of new credit-bearing experiential learning and interdisciplinary courses, there will be more field experience exposure for BEd students to put teaching theory into practice. The curriculum changes are the result of a comprehensive review and benchmarking studies conducted in the past few years.
Complementing the new curriculum is the implementation of the “Peer & I” (“Professional Excellence”, “Ethical Responsibility” and “Innovation”) graduate attributes. The new framework is applicable to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. This is our robust response to the changing educational landscape and expectations that society has of us as a leading university in teacher education.
The next triennium (2019–2022) will see a re-allocation of our publicly funded BEd places, with greater emphasis on STEM-related subjects, especially primary mathematics and general studies, to support Hong Kong’s manpower needs. In particular, I have set STEM and life education as the University’s priority areas in the coming five years to enhance the professional capacity of teachers and the development of related teaching materials.
At the postgraduate level, we signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in 2019 with Hiroshima University (HU) in Japan for developing a programme which would award a Doctor of Education (EdD) degree at EdUHK and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree at HU. This new MOU, together with our existing programme collaborations at doctoral level with the University of Lorraine in France, and Leuphana University of Lüneburg in Germany, offer different disciplines and learning opportunities for PhD and EdD students.
On the research front, EdUHK shone in the latest research funding exercises under the Research Grants Council. A total of HK$26.86 million in research funding was awarded to 41 EdUHK projects in the 2019/20 General Research Fund (GRF), Early Career Scheme (ECS), and Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme.
EdUHK once again ranked first in the subject discipline of Education in the GRF exercise, both in the number of awarded projects and the awarded amount, securing 46 per cent of the total awarded amount. Under the ECS exercise, the University also ranked first in the discipline of Psychology and Linguistics. With four ECS projects being awarded HK$3.92 million in total, EdUHK secured the most funding among its sister universities.
Beyond Hong Kong, our academics received global recognition for their inventions and innovations in pedagogical applications, artificial intelligence for education, green agriculture and healthcare technologies. Their projects and products have redefined and redrawn the boundaries of education, and helped enhance the quality of life.
During the reporting year, they received a total of 16 awards, including gold, silver and bronze medals, at international innovation competitions on both sides of the Atlantic. These included the prestigious International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, the 70th International Trade Fair “Ideas – Inventions – New Products” (iENA) in Germany, the International Invention Innovation Competition in Canada (iCAN), and the Silicon Valley International Invention Festival.
In addition to our local focus, we have spared no effort in sharing our knowledge with our counterparts in the region.
In October 2018, I led a delegation on a week-long visit to Russia, where I shared the University’s transformation experience with over 40 pedagogical university heads. In May 2019, an EdUHK expert team entered into a partnership with the Directorate General of Higher Education in Cambodia to help Cambodian universities enhance their learning and teaching.
With our expanding regional footprint, EdUHK has become a university of choice for students in the region and beyond, especially at the postgraduate level. The percentage of new international students in our research postgraduate programmes increased from 18% in 2016/17 to 42% in 2019/20. Students taking the programmes have come from different parts of the world, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, France, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam.
Equally rewarding, if not more so, is the substantial impact our scholars have made in the local education sector through school-based projects, initiatives and pedagogical innovations. Among them are EdTech applications, such as big data, in special education and learning Chinese as a second language, as well as STEM and coding projects; and animation projects to support learning and teaching of Chinese language and Chinese history. Our projects have been well received by the school sector, and I am particularly encouraged by the overwhelming response to the Chinese history animation project, the website of which recorded over 1.6 million hits in the first year of its launch.
To better understand the issues and challenges faced by education stakeholders, I believe it is important to continuously engage policymakers, school leaders and practitioners, frontline teachers, and parents through focused discussions. I wish to thank all the participants of Education Salon – a platform which the Council Chairman and I initiated in October 2017 – for their invaluable input and insights. During the reporting period, I also hosted a series of receptions at the President’s Lodge, which brought together community leaders and our undergraduate students, most of whom are prospective teachers.
Universities are often referred to as a microcosm of society. Amidst the challenges faced by the community as a whole, the core values treasured by University members have greater significance today than ever. Rationality, inclusiveness and mutual respect matter. It is my genuine belief that these timeless values should serve as our guiding principles in all circumstances.
Professor Stephen Cheung Yan-leung, SBS, JP,
Officier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques
President