Appendix
Strategic Plan 2010–2015:
Planning and Consultation Process Report

1. A Robust Strategic Planning Process

'Excellence in Research and Professional Education', City University’s Strategic Plan for 2010-2015 builds upon the substantial progress made by City University of Hong Kong since its inception 25 years ago. The planning process, overseen by the Strategic Planning Core Group, constitutes the most substantial and detailed consultation process ever undertaken at City University with colleagues, employers, students, and other stakeholders playing a significant role in assessing risk (through comprehensive external and internal environment scans), and identifying six strategic areas (A to F) and related strategies for action. The Strategic Plan aims to ensure that we continue to adhere to our vision of a leading global university which excels in research and professional education, and that we fully adopt an evidenced-based approach to both academic and strategic planning.

2. Benchmarking for Success

The Strategic Planning Core Group was chaired by the Provost , and comprised College and School Deans, Vice-Presidents, the Associate Provost and the Chief Information Officer. Meetings were held between April and September 2008 in order to summarise the SWOT analyses as well as to identify six external benchmarking institutions. Table A1 shows the meeting dates and outcomes recommended by the Strategic Planning Core Group.

The Strategic Planning Core Group received a detailed analysis of a large number of potential benchmarking institutions based on factors related to their ranking in the top 100 world universities and their similarities to City University in terms of teaching, research, size, and areas of academic focus. Having considered a large number of universities worldwide, six institutions were identified as suitable benchmarks. An important component of the selection and subsequent benchmarking processes involved a review of practices and structure, and thorough gap analyses on a range of key strategic performance indicators for each of the six. The external benchmarks are:

• University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia;
• University of Texas at Austin, USA;
• University of Warwick, UK;
• University of California, San Diego, USA;
• University of Sheffield, UK; and
• Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

3. The Strategic Areas for 2010-2015

As a result of the detailed gap analyses involving our identified external benchmarks and the environment scanning and SWOT process, six strategic areas (A to F), and associated Strategic Outcomes, have been identified which form the core of City University’s Strategic Plan for 2010-2015:

• A: Student Learning and Career Development
  Strategic Outcome: Improvements in the academic breadth and strength of programmes with a renewed emphasis on functioning knowledge, and academic and language quality.
• B: Research and Technology Transfer
  Strategic Outcome: Improvements in the quality and quantity of research outputs, grant income, and knowledge transfer activity across and between all disciplines.
• C: Faculty and Staff Recruitment, Reward and Retention
  Strategic Outcome: Equipping City University with sufficient high quality and committed faculty and staff to ensure mission success whilst strengthening capacity as a caring and accountable performance-based employer.
• D: Campus Planning and Development
  Strategic Outcome: Establishing an integrated, ecologically aware, and organic global campus with a strong identity, capable of inspiring and sustaining future generations of students and academics.
• E: Globalisation
  Strategic Outcome: Establishing City University of Hong Kong as a global brand allied firmly to Mainland China.
• F: Branding, Image and Culture
  Strategic Outcome: Improving global and local brand awareness and reputation.edge, and academic and language quality.

4. Sub-Groups, Buzz-Groups, and Online Consultation

For each Strategic Area and Strategic Outcome, sub-groups were formed, and goals, and strategic actions developed, to ensure that the implementation of the Strategic Plan. Table A2 presents the meeting dates and outcomes recommended by the sub-groups. The constitution and membership of each sub-group are presented in Annex 1.

A series of strategic faculty buzz-group meetings were held to consider the first blueprint of the plan, and invitations were sent to all academic faculty members in March 2009. About 300 academic colleagues, ranging from Assistant Professors to Chair Professors, attended at least one of the group meetings. These groups reviewed each priority action area in detail. Substantial additions, exclusions and amendments were subsequently made to each area. The amended second blueprint was then made available online for further consultation to take place and the feedback received was incorporated into the plan. Table A3 shows the number of participants by strategic areas in the five faculty buzz-group meetings. A detailed composition of participants is presented in Annex 2.

The second blueprint was sent to sub-group Chairs in July and the revised Draft Strategic Plan was released online (internally) in mid-August 2009 with a request that people send views/comments to each sub-group Chair. The sub-group Chairs were then asked to send the consolidated views directly to the Strategic Planning Core Group Secretary for inclusion into the penultimate blueprint of the strategic plan.

To provide a wider and multi-faceted consultation platform for the strategic plan, a Strategic Planning Consultation meeting was held in the first week of August to solicit suggestions and ideas from three other groups of key stakeholders – employers, alumni and representatives from students’ union.

All suggestions and ideas from this meeting were also embedded into the final draft which was discussed by the Strategic Planning Core Group in August and then progressed through the appropriate City University committees. A schedule of committee meetings is listed in Table A5 below:

5. Diagrammatic Summary of Strategic Planning Process

Constitution and Membership of Strategic Planning Core Group
The Strategic Planning Core Group, chaired by Professor Richard Ho (Provost) and then Professor C H Chan (Acting Provost from July 2009), comprised the following members:

Constitution and Membership of Sub-Groups

Consultation Meetings:

A. Meetings with Faculty Members

To facilitate wide consultation across the University community, five faculty buzz-group meetings were organised in March 2009 to allow all academic grades (Assistant Professor to Chair Professor) to engage in a multi-disciplinary consultation platform to solicit faculty comments and ideas for the 2010-2015 Strategic Plan. About 480 faculty staff were approached by phone invitation and the participation rate was 63%.

Profile of Participants for the Buzz-Group Meetings

B. Meeting with Alumni, Convocation, Employers and Students’ Union Representatives

A meeting with alumni, convocation, employers and students’ union representatives was held on 7th August 2009 to solicit their views and suggestions to the strategic plan (see Table A4).