Seeking to enhance our research capacities to international leadership status, we have invested vast resources in our research capacities and existing areas of excellence. Proposals for five to six new key research centres are currently undergoing stringent global academic assessment. With the completion of this process, these centres are set to become distinguished research units within the Asia-Pacific Region, specialising in innovative and strategic research and development work in civic governance, language education, assessment and measurement, learning and instruction, reform leadership, spirituality education, as well as inclusive and multi-disciplinary education.
A critical mass of research specialists, consisting of about 30 existing and newly appointed chair professors and professors, will work in concert, not only leading internal research teams and students to advance high value-added interdisciplinary research, but also facilitating a network of international collaborations, to consolidate the academic status of Hong Kong and the Institute within the Asia-Pacific Region.
Professor Cheng remarked, “By establishing a critical mass of interdisciplinary research expertise that collaborates in strategic areas and complements one another on research angles and capacity, the Institute can address complex educational issues more effectively, while further enhancing the impact of our research work.” He feels that this high value-added interdisciplinary research model fully embodies the Institute’s vision for “Education Plus”.
In the next three to five years, the Institute will develop at full speed. Professor Cheng reckons that by 2012-13, we will have established five to six research centres, known for their excellence in the Asia-Pacific Region.
To become a research centre of excellence in the Region within the next five years, we will make postgraduate degree and research programmes one of our key priorities, attracting outstanding students from neighbouring countries such as Vietnam,
Thailand, Japan, Mainland China, Australia, Malaysia and Korea. Their active participation in these innovative research projects and academic activities will help foster a research ambience at the Institute. Upon graduation and their return home, these overseas students will help to spread and promote our footprint in the Region.
Professor Cheng has great plans for our future in academic research. However what sort of challenges will the Institute encounter upon the implementation of these plans? Will academic staff who are already heavily loaded with teaching duties, have the time and energy to cope with the challenges of such highly demanding research requirements?
The Secondary Teaching Evaluation and Mentoring Project received a QEF 10th Anniversary "Outstanding Project Award”.
Currently, academic staff in universities shoulder an average teaching workload of about 180 to 200 hours
a year. At the Institute, we are reviewing relevant conditions in each academic unit to ensure a fair and reasonable working environment for all. Our academic staff should carry a teaching workload that is comparable to other university-level institutions, so
that a balance between teaching and research can be achieved.
Professor Cheng believes that a reasonable, fair and transparent approach is extremely important in the assessment and distribution of staff workload. Only with a reasonable teaching workload with guaranteed research time will we be able to strike a proper balance between research, teaching and service.
Not only will our enhanced research capacities improve our international reputation, they will also greatly benefit our students. Innovation in the content, process and methods of teaching, derived from research findings, will broaden students’ perspectives and their intellectual horizons, while also enhancing their learning effectiveness. In the long term, research will help to improve education policies, affecting hundreds of thousands of students.
As specialist academic disciplines continue to develop, research areas will extend to cover Psychology, Child Research, Health Education, Creative Arts and Governance.
Applied research has a far-reaching impact on education policies and professional practices. In 2007-08, we received funding from the Research Grants Council for three Public Policy Research projects and three General Research Fund projects. Additionally, we were commissioned by the Education Bureau and the Trade Development Council to conduct three research projects exploring various factors that affect school management, education effectiveness, teacher education, curriculum development, policy reform implementation, as well as higher education exports.
During the year, we also implemented five research projects funded by the Quality Education Fund and two institute-school partnership schemes commissioned by the Education Bureau, supporting over 300 schools and kindergartens in educational development with research and development programmes. “Secondary Teaching Evaluation and Mentoring”, one of the research projects funded by the Quality Education Fund, also won us the Outstanding Project Award.
