Readers of our Strategic Plan for 1997-2002 were invited to "imagine City University in five years time". At the end of the current planning period in 2008, the University will be on the verge of its 25th anniversary. As we grow into this maturity as an institution, what future do we imagine?
Our broadest aim is to have been part of the effort bringing Hong Kong through a period of rapid transition. We are determined that our students and our research will have made a key contribution to the development of a successful economy and a thriving society, underpinned by high-value-added businesses.
To accomplish this we will have recognised and consolidated our strengths -- active, productive teams in key areas of applied research operating at the international level; a solid undergraduate education, open to a range of entrants and known for the value it adds in delivering competent and creative graduates; a portfolio of top quality professional qualifications available for part-time students; and a financially viable College capable of providing a bridge from high school graduation through to advanced degrees.
We will also have established substantial, enduring links with mainland China, in particular with the Pearl River Delta. Universities are in a unique position to create productive networks of researchers and educators across boundaries and to operate at the leading edge of social and economic change. CityU intends to be at that leading edge as Hong Kong takes up its new role in the region.
Meanwhile, CityU will have become a more engaging, productive, and comfortable place to work and study, a residential campus with space for the personal contact that nourishes the life of the mind, and a deepening learning environment built on the new technologies that are transforming education. No longer will it be a place that shuts its doors when the day's work is over.
In our Strategic Plan for 1997-2002, we imagined a university "at the centre of Hong Kong ... and the service of our city". As Hong Kong looks forward to its future in a key region of one of the world's great economic powers, we intend to align ourselves with that future. We imagine a university at the hub of a spreading regional and international network of professional education and applied research, at the service of a leading city in China, with increasingly strong linkages to a knowledge-based global community.
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