EdUHK to Confer Honorary Doctorates on Distinguished Individuals

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The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) will confer honorary doctorates on five distinguished individuals at the Congregation on 16 November 2018 (Friday), in recognition of the significant contributions made in their respective fields in advancing education and social betterment:

• Professor Edward Chen Kwan-yiu, GBS, CBE, JP
• Professor Christopher W. Day, FAcSS
• Mr Lam Woon-kwong, GBS, JP
• Dr Pang Yiu-kai, GBS, JP
• Mr Joseph C. Tsai

 Professor Edward Chen Kwan-yiu, GBS, CBE, JP
~ Doctor of Education, honoris causa

Educated at The University of Hong Kong and Oxford University, Professor Chen has had a distinguished academic career as a university educator, administrator and internationally acclaimed economist. He was President of Lingnan University (1995 to 2007) and established it as the liberal arts university of Hong Kong. He encouraged close teacher-student relationships and insisted on teaching a course each semester and meeting all students over breakfast in small groups.

Professor Chen’s contribution to education is widely appreciated. As a tribute to his inspiring mentorship, a group of his former students from the early 1970s have held the “Edward K Y Chen Distinguished Lecture Series” since 2007. He has received honorary doctorates from The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (2008), The Open University of Hong Kong (2012) and Plymouth University in the UK (2015).

Currently, Professor Chen serves as Chairman of HKU SPACE (School of Professional and Continuing Education), Chairman of the Centennial College Council, and Distinguished Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (incorporating the Centre of Asian Studies) at HKU. He has held visiting appointments at Yale, Oxford, and Stockholm Universities and at the University of California (Davis Campus), and is also Honorary Professor at several universities in Hong Kong and the Mainland. He was President of the Qianhai Institute for Innovative Research in Shenzhen (2014-2017), tasked with setting up a modern think tank based on market orientation and international openness. He served on the Time Magazine Board of Economists and was a Distinguished Fulbright Scholar.

Professor Chen has extensive experience in both the public and commercial sectors. He was a member of the Hong Kong SAR Basic Law Consultative Committee (1985-1990), a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (1991-1992), and a member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong (1992-1997) during the crucial period of Sino-British negotiations over the future of Hong Kong. As Chairman of the Consumer Council (1991-1997), he laid the foundation for a competition policy and eventually a competition law for Hong Kong in 2015. 

In recognition of his many contributions, Professor Chen was appointed Justice of Peace in 1993, and was awarded the CBE in 1995 and the Gold Bauhinia Star in 2003.

Professor Christopher W. Day, FAcSS

~ Doctor of Education, honoris causa

A leading scholar in the global education sector, Professor Day is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is also Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Sydney, Australia; Chair Professor at Beijing Normal University; Senior Research Fellow at The Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change at The Education University of Hong Kong; Adjunct Professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong; and Visiting Professor at several other universities around the world.

Professor Day is an expert in the continuing professional development of teachers, teachers’ lives and work, school leadership, school-university partnerships and educational change. In addition to conducting numerous international projects on topics relevant to his interests and expertise, he has acted as an adviser to governments and government agencies in Europe and South America. He has been invited as a keynote speaker at international conferences held in Southeast Asia, Europe and Australasia.

A prolific and committed researcher, Professor Day’s publications include Teachers' Worlds and Work:  understanding complexity, building quality (2017); A Decade of Research on School Principals: Cases from 24 Countries (2016); Resilient Teachers, Resilient Schools (2014); The International Handbook of Teacher and School Development (2012); New Understandings of Teachers' Work: Emotions and Educational Change (2011); Successful School Leadership: Linking with Learning and Achievement (2011); The New Lives of Teachers (2011); Teachers Matter (2007), Successful Principalship: International Perspectives (2007); and more. Some of his publications have been published in several languages. Currently the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, Professor Day is also a Member of the Editorial Boards of The British Educational Research Journal, The Journal of Educational Administration, and Teaching and Teacher Education.

Professor Day’s significant contributions to the education sector over the decades have earned him international acclaim. In recognition of his distinguished work in the field of continuing professional development for teachers, the University of Linkoping in Sweden awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in 1993, and The University of Nottingham presented him with a Doctor of Letters in 2009. He was awarded the Michael Huberman Award for Excellence in Research on Teachers by the American Educational Research Association in 2010, and was elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2012.

Mr Lam Woon-kwong, GBS, JP

~Doctor of Social Sciences, honoris causa

Mr Lam graduated from The University of Hong Kong (HKU) with a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Economics and Sociology. In 1980s, he was sent by the Government to Harvard University in the States for a Master programme in Public Administration and he obtained a Master degree of Buddhist Studies from HKU in 2007.

A devoted and distinguished civil servant in Hong Kong, Mr Lam has an exceptional track record in serving the public. Starting his career in the public service as an Administrative Officer in 1974, he was a high-flyer, who rose to secretary-level rank before 1997. He subsequently served as a Principal Official and Official under the accountability system in the HKSAR Government. He was the Convenor of Non-Official Members of the Executive Council of the HKSAR government (2012-2017); Secretary for Home Affairs (2000-2002); Director of the Chief Executive’s Office of the HKSAR (2002-2005); Chief Executive Officer of the Equestrian Events (Hong Kong) of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad Company Limited (2006-2008); and Chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission (2010-2013).

Mr Lam also worked in the then Education and Manpower Branch, Department of Education, and Civil Service Bureau. Before being appointed Secretary for the Civil Service in 1996, he served as Director of Education. He was also a Board Member of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Currently, Mr Lam serves as College-wide Adjunct Professor of Hang Seng Management College.

Since 2012, Mr Lam has been a regular newspaper commentator, writing about a wide range of topics, from education to world history and politics. His wisdom, knowledge and eloquence have also been demonstrated in his speeches at a great number of local universities, colleges and secondary schools. He never ceases to encourage Hong Kong young people with his positive views and life experience.

In recognition of his dedicated and distinguished service rendered to the Hong Kong community, Mr Lam received a Gold Bauhinia Star in 2000, the Chief Executive’s Commendation for Community Service Award in 2009, and was appointed Justice of the Peace in 2005. He also served as advisor to the Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre when it was established in 2006.

Dr Pang Yiu-kai, GBS, JP

~ Doctor of Education, honoris causa

Dr Pang graduated from the University of Nottingham with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering, and from the University of Edinburgh in the UK with a Master of Business Administration Degree. In 1998, he completed the Programme for Global Leadership at Harvard Business School.

Dr Pang made enormous contributions to the transformation of The Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd), which was retitled as The Education University of Hong Kong in 2016, during his service on the Council for 15 straight years. Initially serving as a Council Member (2002-2017), then Treasurer (2005-2009), and subsequently as Council Chairman (2009- 2017), Dr Pang’s dedication, insight and leadership carried the institution forward from strength to strength. He also held different positions on a number of Committees, such as Chairman of the Honorary Degrees Committee (2009-2017) and Chairman of the HKIEd and EdUHK Foundation (2014-2017). In addition to tirelessly and selflessly sharing his time and advice with HKIEd and EdUHK, Dr Pang has made generous donations to support the University’s development. He is also a former Chairman of the Quality Education Fund Steering Committee, a former Chairman of the Chief Executive's Award for Teaching Excellence Steering Committee, a former Chairman of the Joint Committee on Student Finance and the current Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Gifted Education.

Apart from his many roles in education, Dr Pang is an outstanding business leader. Among others, he is Deputy Managing Director of the Fortune 500 corporation, Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited, and a Director of Dairy Farm International Holdings Limited and Mandarin Oriental International Limited.  He is also the former Chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (2014-2016), current Chairman of The Employers' Federation of Hong Kong and Deputy Chairman of The Hong Kong Management Association. 

Just as remarkable and extensive are his achievements in public service and charities. Dr Pang is currently Chairman of the Hospital Governing Committee of Queen Mary Hospital and Tsan Yuk Hospital, Vice Patron of The Community Chest of Hong Kong, a member of the Trade and Industry Advisory Board and Chairman of the Standing Committee on Directorate Salaries & Conditions of Service.

Dr Pang was selected as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Hong Kong in 1999 and was appointed Justice of the Peace in 2001. He received the Silver Bauhinia Star in 2008 and the Gold Bauhinia Star in 2016. In the same year, he was conferred an Honorary Doctorate degree by The University of Edinburgh.

Mr Joseph C. Tsai
~ Doctor of Social Sciences, honoris causa

Joe Tsai grew up in Taiwan and comes from a family of lawyers. His grandfather Ruchin Tsar and father Paul Tsai, natives of Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, established Tsar & Tsai, the first partnership law firm in Taiwan serving international clients since 1965.

Mr Tsai left Taiwan at age 13 and went to high school at the Lawrenceville School in the United States. He is a graduate of Yale College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and East Asian Studies, and Yale Law School, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree. He is qualified to practise law in the State of New York.

Upon graduation from Yale Law School in 1990, Mr Tsai worked as a tax attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York. He then pursued a career in private equity, serving as General Counsel of New York private equity firm Rosecliff, Inc., and later working in Hong Kong for Investor AB, the holding company of Sweden’s Wallenberg family, focusing on Asian private equity investments.

In 1999, Mr Tsai quit his job at Investor AB and joined Jack Ma at then early-stage start-up Alibaba as one of its 18 founders. He served as Chief Financial Officer for more than a decade before becoming the company’s Executive Vice Chairman in 2013. He has served on the board of directors of Alibaba since the inception of the company.

Mr Tsai has made education the main focus of his philanthropic initiatives. Through the Joe & Clara Tsai Foundation, he and his wife made donations to the Lawrenceville School in financial aid and sports, established the Wu Tsai Neuroscience Institute at Stanford University, and founded the Tsai Centre for Innovative Thinking at Yale (“Tsai CITY”). To honour his father, Mr Tsai supports the work of Yale Law School’s China Centre, which has been renamed the Paul Tsai China Centre. 

Mr Tsai recently expanded his philanthropic activities to mainland China by establishing the Joe Tsai Foundation in his ancestral home town in Zhejiang Province to focus on education of students from rural and under-privileged backgrounds, with the vision of “One Job Opportunity Lifts the Entire Family Out of Poverty”.