Dear colleagues, students and alumni,
As we start the Year of the Ox, I would like to provide you all with a brief progress update and share with you the vision of our future development. This update is the result of months of numerous communications with CityU stakeholders and will, I hope and trust, communicate to all of you how together we can move our University forward.
1. Five-year
strategic plan progress
In adhering to the revised CityU vision of becoming
"a leading global university, excelling in research
and professional education",
the Strategic Planning Committee led by Provost Richard Ho has designated six
priority action areas, ranging from student education and career development to research and
infrastructure, globalisation, campus planning, recruiting and retaining staff,
and branding, image and culture. Needless to say, the strategic plan is urgently
needed as we are going to switch to the 4-year curriculum in 2012.
A strategic planning sub-group was formed to address each of these priority areas. Extensive consultations have been conducted among faculty, staff and students, as we want the whole university community to get involved in mapping out the blueprint of our future. Please submit any further contributions before the plan is finalised in September. The strategic plan will be aligned with the Council plan.
2. Campus
development
To
alleviate crowded campus conditions and create learning and research space for
faculty and students, the University Working Group on Campus Master Plan,
chaired by Professor Julia Tao, has mapped out a long-term plan for campus
development that incorporates educational philosophies into the campus
architecture. The new plan is being presented to the Council for approval
and guidance, and will be shared with the campus-wide community during
summer.
In
addition to the two major buildings under construction, our proposal for the
Academic and Administration Building (AAB) was approved by Legco in February and
the funding application will be considered by Legco's Public Works Subcommittee
in April. The major motivation behind the AAB project is to fulfil the education
goals of the 4-year degree structure to be implemented in 2012.
3. Financial position and
donations
The
financial turbulence prevailing in global markets has inflicted damage upon
economies around the world. Due to prudent investment and cost management
strategies, I am pleased to report that our financial position remains sound. At
the same time, we have raised a total of
$104.89M,
including the $46.87M matching grant from UGC, since the launch of the
Government's Fourth Matching Grant Scheme. Furthermore, we will
pay attention to the benefits for the CityU colleagues.
4. Honours received by the
CityU members
Our
faculty have brought honours to the University through their achievements.
Professor Chen Guanrong, for example, received the highest state award available
in natural sciences, while Professor Zhang Longxi was elected
a foreign
member of the
In addition, three faculty members have been granted the highest funding among local universities in the RGC Collaborative Fund 2008-09, which is further testimony to the diverse and outstanding research capabilities of CityU. Another three academics, Professors Gary Feng Gang, Man Kim-fung and Keith Zhang Qitu, were recently named IEEE Fellows, bringing the overall tally of IEEE Fellows in CityU to 12.
We have
successfully recruited a number of distinguished scholars in various
disciplines, including renowned pioneering new media artist and researcher
Jeffrey Shaw as the Dean of Creative Media, and Fields Medallist Stephen
Smale of mathematics.
Conclusion
It has
been an exciting period since I arrived at CityU nine months ago. I have gotten
to know quite a few of you very well through various occasions. Your enthusiasm
and strong sense of belonging impressed me during the recent marathon when a
record number of CityU staff, students and alumni showed their support by
participating in the event.
As we
are celebrating CityU's 25th anniversary, I sincerely believe that
with our current teaching and research strengths, the highly committed faculty
and staff and our newly recruited talent, CityU is providing the best education
to our students and will emerge as one of the most renowned universities in the
world.
Best
wishes,
Way Kuo
President and
University Distinguished Professor
27
各位同事、同學、校友：
值此牛年開始之際，我向大家簡單通報一下工作進展，並與各位分享今後發展的願景。這份工作進展報告是數月來與許多城大相關人士溝通的成果。我希望並確信能夠透過報告向大家傳達一個信息：只要齊心協力，必能推動大學向前發展。
1、五年長遠計劃的進展
遵循經過修訂的城大發展願景，將城大建成「研究與專業教學兼優的世界一流大學」，以學務副校長何炘基為首的長遠規劃委員會已確立六個優先行動領域，即：研究及基礎設施、學生教育及就業發展、全球化、校園規劃、招聘和保留職員，以及創名牌、樹形象和校園文化。不言而喻，由於我們將於2012年向四年制轉型，制定長遠發展計劃刻不容緩。
針對每個優先行動領域已成立不同小組，廣泛徵求教職員和學生意見，因為我們希望全校上下都能參與制定大學發展的藍圖。請各位在九月計劃最終定稿前繼續提供新的建議。重大發展計劃將與校董會的計劃保持一致。
2、校園發展
為了緩解校園擁擠狀況，為師生提供必要的學習和研究空間，以陶黎寶華教授為首的大學校園總體計劃工作組已擬定將教育理念融入校園建築風格的長期校園發展計劃。新計劃已提請校董會批准及給予指導，並將在今年夏季向全校公布。
除了興建中的兩幢大樓，計劃建造的教學行政大樓建議已於二月獲得立法會批准，要求資助的申請將在四月由立法會工務小組委員會審議。建造教學行政大樓這一項目的宗旨，是為了實施定於2012年向四年本科新學制轉型的教育目標。
3、財政狀況及捐贈
波及全球市場的金融動蕩給世界經濟帶來嚴重破壞。由於我們採取謹慎投資及成本管理策略，我高興地向大家彙報：
4、城大學者獲得的榮譽
城大的傑出教師隊伍以卓越成就為大學贏得榮譽。例如，陳關榮教授獲得國家自然科學領域規格最高的獎項。張隆溪教授獲選為瑞典皇家文學、歷史及考古學院外籍院士。城大目前有八位各個科學院的院士。
此外，三位學者在本地高校中獲得2008
- 09年度研資局協作研究金最高額的撥款，進一步證明城大在廣泛領域具有的傑出研究能力。另外，馮剛、文劍鋒和張啟圖三位教授最近被命名為國際電機暨電子工程師學會院士，使城大獲得該學會院士的總數達到12位。
我們同時在各學科成功招聘到一批傑出的學者，其中包括創意媒體學院的新院長著名新媒體創始藝術家及研究學者Jeffrey
Shaw和數學專業菲爾茲獎得主Stephen Smale。
結語
我來城大雖僅九個月，卻感觸很深。我在各種場合結識、了解了你們中的一部分人。在最近舉行的馬拉松活動中，城大教職員、學生及校友參加人數創歷年之最，你們支持這項活動的熱情和強烈歸屬感令我深為敬佩。
大學慶祝創校25周年，我堅信，依靠現有教學和研究實力以及充滿事業心的教職員和新增聘的人才，城大必定能為學生提供最好的教育，努力成為世界上最負盛名的大學之一。
祝大家好！
郭位
校長及大學傑出教授
2009年2月27日