President's Message

Novel ways of teaching and learning

In the Fall Semester of 2019-20, classes were disrupted due to social unrest. To engage our students in constructive dialogue, we launched daily sessions from morning until evening for all students to meet with teachers and the University's senior management, myself included. Not a single student who wanted to meet up missed out. At the peak of the unrest, in mid-November classes were switched to online until the end of the semester. But shortly afterwards, the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak again brought teaching and learning back to the virtual space.

The pandemic is a good teacher. It taught us well. E-learning has a long history in the global higher education sector but it was not until the pandemic came along that universities across the world realised its full potential. At HKBU, our innovative teaching colleagues have creatively devised novel solutions to facilitate online teaching and assessment, making e-learning ever more effective and stimulating. I am also pleased to see that our students have demonstrated excellent versatility and resilience in coping with the new paradigms of learning. Globally, we cemented new co-teaching pacts with overseas partner universities to enrich our programme content.

Supporting our graduates and students

For our students, no amount of money could buy them the invaluable lessons they learned during these testing times. They learned empathy, diversity, resilience. The University has offered all means of support to our graduates and students, who have suffered diminishing career opportunities as a result of the pandemic and lost overseas internship opportunities due to the shutdown of international travel.

While social distancing has kept us physically apart, we introduced seamless connectedness among students, colleagues, alumni, employers and friends. This was done through our Project SEED. Launched in April, the online platform aims to nurture Students through Engagement, Enrichment and Development. Its four key functional components are: SEED Mentorship, SEED Jobs, SEED Internship and SEED Incubator. Our alumni and friends flocked to the platform, offering mentorship, internship and career opportunities to our students. They also joined hands with eminent industry leaders to share their experience and insights through online SEED Talks, instilling in students a positive attitude towards life, improving their competencies in job-hunting and broadening the scope of their outlook. 

In addition, the SEED Fund has raised nearly HK$10 million to support the student-led caring projects as well as to provide additional help to students in financial difficulty. I am very grateful for the enthusiastic support from our alumni, colleagues and friends. Their contributions helped make the project a great success.

Top talent on board

In the "new normal" era where uncertainties and challenges prevail, we are blessed to have a strong team to guide the University towards realising its vision. Last year has seen new faces coming on board, including Professor Guo Yike as Vice President (Research and Development), Ms Christine Chow as Vice President (Administration) and Secretary, and Dr Alison Lloyd, Professor Arthur Mak and Professor Johnny Poon as Associate Vice-Presidents. They are all outstanding scholars and leaders bringing us unique strengths and experience that will further advance the development of the University. Our Talent100 Project, too, hit the target of bringing top faculty talents from around the world to our campus. Consequently, a second phase, Talent100+, has been launched.

Over the past five years, the University has successfully secured donations, donation pledges and matching funds amounting to HK$2 billion to support our strategic development and bolster its teaching and research capabilities. One of the notable projects is the Jockey Club Campus of Creativity, which is the biggest in our University's history and will hugely expand our geographic and intellectual footprint. We are very much indebted to the support from friends and the community. 

It seems like only yesterday that I joined the HKBU family, but today I am writing my last President's Message for our annual report. The past five years has been most fulfilling, with every moment purposeful and unforgettable. It has been my distinct honour to have known and worked with a dedicated and outstanding team of academic and administrative colleagues.

My biggest reward is to see our students becoming talented youngsters and prominent leaders. I owe a great debt of gratitude to our students, alumni, colleagues, our Council and Court, supporters and friends for everything we did together and every moment we shared. They have enriched our University. I would also like to extend my best wishes to Professor Alex Wai, the incoming President of HKBU. With Professor Wai's outstanding academic achievements and extensive experience in higher education, under his capable leadership the University will continue to scale new heights.