Currently
there is a limited courtesy email service scheme for long-serving
staff (i.e. staff serving 10 years or more) who are leaving
the University. The email addresses under this scheme assume
the same format as those for alumni (i.e. EID@alumni.cityu.edu.hk,
which might give rise to confusion and inconvenience). Over
150 former staff are now using this service.
There
are lots of free email services nowadays available from the
commercial sector, and this shows the value that is attached
to a mailing list. To continue to provide free email service
to the staff after they have left the University will be an
effective means for the University to maintain relations with
them. In view of this, the Committee on Information Services
and Technology (CIST), at its meeting held on 28 October 2005,
agreed to extend email service to long-serving staff members
who had been employed on full-time, regular term service continuously
for six years or more prior to leaving the University.
CIST
has also decided to allow former staff to keep the same email
address they had been using (i.e. EID@cityu.edu.hk).
In this way, the staff can continue to use their email without
any change or service interruption. However, CIST does have
some concerns that it may create operational difficulties
for some departments if the email addresses of their existing
staff are not differentiated from those of the former staff.
CIST has thus decided to allow a department, if it so wishes,
to choose an alternative email domain name, i.e. EID@alumni.cityu.edu.hk,
for its eligible former staff.
It is
hoped that this new service arrangement will bring more convenience
for and stronger ties with our former staff.