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No. 38 • 18 April 2005
 

 

Staff forum
Council Chairman Sir Gordon Wu held a forum on 15 April, between 12:30pm and 2pm, with staff to talk about the university's role and future development. About 300 staff attended the forum.

 

Discretionary salary points for Asst / Assoc Prof Grade
At its meeting on 14 April, the Council approved with immediate effect the addition of four discretionary salary points above the salary scales of Assistant Professor and Associate Professors (effective from 1 July 2004) to provide the flexibility needed to attract deserving candidates. The offer shall be made on an exceptional basis, subject to the approval of a Central Committee to be set up. The Committee will be chaired by the Deputy President (DP); members are to include one relevant Dean and one Dean selected by the DP on a case-by-case basis.

Following the adoption of the new salary scales effective from 1 July 2004 with reduced salary points for new academic staff, some academic departments have encountered difficulty in attracting well-qualified candidates for Assistant Professorship and Associate Professorship. To maintain CityU's competitiveness, the Council decided that departments are allowed to offer new appointees an "off-scale/range" salary of up to four discretionary salary points (B12 to B15) above the top point of the Assistant Professor scale and (A3 to A6) of the Associate Professor scale. Fringe benefits shall remain the same as those associated with the original salary ranges.

 

Lecture theatre naming
At its meeting on 14 April, the Council granted approval for one of the University's lecture theatres to be named "SAE Magnetics Lecture Theatre" in recognition of the contribution and support of SAE Magnetics (HK) Limited to CityU. The company donated HK$3 million to CityU to support the work of the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE), especially for students' industrial training. A long-term industrial partner of the University, SAE has provided more than 180 training places to FSE students since the launch of the Industrial Attachment Scheme in 2000. It has also donated over HK$1.4 million to support various scholarship programmes and research projects of the University.

 

Graduate employment survey
The average income of CityU's bachelor's and associate degree graduates in 2004 rose 7.8% and 7.6% respectively, according to the Graduate Employment Survey 2004 conducted by the Career Centre of the Student Development Services.

A total of 2,242 bachelor's degree graduates responded to the University's graduate employment survey, a response rate of 94.6%. The survey showed that 96.2% of them were engaged in employment or further studies by the end of 2004. The gross monthly income was $9,411, which represented an increase of 7.8% from $8,733 in 2003.

In addition, 418 associate degree graduates from the School of Creative Media and the Division of Building Science and Technology responded to the survey, a response rate of 94.8%. Associate degree graduates reported an increase of 7.6% in their income to HK$7,929 in 2004 compared to HK$7,372 in 2003. About 96% of associate degree graduates were engaged in employment or further studies.

Information Services Strategic Plan
The Committee of Information Services and Technology, led by Dr Jerry Yu, Chief Information Officer, has unveiled the Information Services Strategic Plan 2005-2010 for consultation. The Plan aims to enhance effective communication and access to information to support student learning, research and administration.

The Plan addresses four key areas: (1) full-scale deployment of the Blackboard Academic Suite as the unified e-learning platform; (2) close collaboration between the Library and the Computing Services Centre to deliver content to end-users in a timely manner for successful knowledge management; (3) re-examination of administrative work processes to ensure proper use of institutional data; capability to process data in Chinese has to be developed; and (4) a proper Web and portal strategy to promote the University's image externally and to enhance internal information dissemination. Please see www.cityu.edu.hk/cio/cist/ for details of the Plan.

 

Kudos
Mr Ahmed Sharif, a PhD student supervised by Professor (Chair) Y C Chan in the Department of Electronic Engineering, received the Young Award at the 2004 International Conference on Electronic Packaging for his paper "Effect of Aging on the Interfacial Reaction of BGA Sn-Ag-Cu and Sn-Ag Solders with Ni(P)/Au Surface Finish on Pad".

 

More kudos
Three Associate of Science graduates, Chan Yip-kan (Division of Building Science and Technology), Lai Chung-sum and Ng Kwok-kit (Division of Computer Studies) were selected as Outstanding Engineering Students by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers. Each awardee received a certificate and a cash prize of HK$3,000 at a prize presentation ceremony held in February.

International Conference
The Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics and the Centre for Cross-Culutral Studies jointly present an "International Conference on Translation, Literature, and Cross-Cultural Understanding", 22-23 April at Room G7619, 7/F Academic Building.

The School of Law is organizing an "International Conference on Human Rights and Development : Approaches to the Reform of Governance in Asia", 9-10 May.

 

Exhibition
"Freshly Made Burial Objects -- Mister Ying Reborn" is now on display in the CityU Gallery until 16 May. Opening hours are Monday to Friday, 10am to 7pm.

 
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