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Activities Highlights 

Communications/Interface with Stakeholders

Chairman in conference with institution Faculty Deans and Heads of Departments 
Chairman, UGC visited the eight UGC-funded institutions and briefed the Deans and Heads of Departments on the work of the Committee, listened to their views and concerns on various higher education issues, including the 2012-15 academic planning exercise and reforms in research funding.

 

 

Media briefing on UGC activities
Chairman, UGC and several UGC members met the media following each of UGC meetings held in April, September 2010 and January 2011, to brief them on the main issues discussed.


Launch of UGC Blog
To further enhance communication with the online community and encourage more instant feedback from the public, the UGC for the first time set up a bilingual Blog with the objective of providing to the public frequent update on its latest work and development as well as any major views and concerns about UGC policies.

 

New UGC Notes on Procedures promulgated
The “Notes on Procedures”, which govern the Committee’s relationship with the Government and the institutions and set out the major operational/procedural elements of the interplay among the three, were substantially reviewed and streamlined to enhance efficiency while safeguarding public accountability. The revised Notes took effect on 1 July 2010.

Research Grants Council - public lectures and visit
To promote the work of the UGC and the RGC and the machievements of the research community in Hong Kong, the RGC has been co-organising with Hong Kong Science Museum public lectures since April 2009. The most recent one was held on 29 January 2011 on the achievements of two Areas of Excellence Scheme projects - “Center for Plant and Agricultural Biotechnology” and “Hong Kong Institute of Economic & Business Strategy”.
 

The RGC visited CUHK on 17 June 2010 for the purpose of exchanges. Programmes of the visit included an overview of research in CUHK given by its senior management, a central poster display on its overall research landscape, and tours of faculties/departments in small groups and exchange of views with research postgraduate students and junior academic staff during meetings.

  

Higher Education Review

Consultation sessions
In addition to the consultation fora in September 2009, the UGC Higher Education Review Group held two further consultation sessions in April 2010 to gauge the views of stakeholders. In attendance were over 100 staff and students from the post-secondary sector, as well as representatives of quality assurance bodies. Their views have helped shape the content and recommendations of the review report “Aspirations for the Higher Education System in Hong Kong” published in December 2010.

 

 

Release of Report – “Aspirations for the Higher Education System in Hong Kong”
Following extensive consultation with stakeholders in the post-secondary sector and thorough discussion within the UGC, the UGC submitted to the Government, and simultaneously released to the public the report “Aspirations for the Higher Education System in Hong Kong” on 1 December 2010. The report covers a wide range of issues pertinent to the post-secondary education sector and offers a number of recommendations on appropriate strategies for the future development of the sector. The Government is consulting stakeholders and the public before coming to a view on implementation.

Briefing LegCo Panel on Education
In January 2011, Chairman, UGC, Convenor of the Higher Education Review Group and the Secretary-General, UGC attended the meeting of the Legislative Council Panel on Education to introduce the “Aspirations for the Higher Education System in Hong Kong”.

“3+3+4” Academic Reform

“3+3+4” symposia sponsored by UGC
The UGC continued to sponsor the funded institutions to launch a series of 12 symposia on issues relating to the implementation of “3+3+4” to facilitate forward planning as well as information and ideas exchange among them. Eight of the 12 symposia were successfully concluded in 2009-10; further three took place in 2010-11 (April 2010, November 2010 and March 2011), and were wellattended by representatives of the school sector and the higher education sectors. Participants actively took part  in in-depth discussion on various topics such as student admission, core curriculum, language issues, standard based assessment, etc.

  

“3+3+4” related capital works projects
The superstructure works of ten out of the 12 major capital works projects necessary for the implementation of the new “3+3+4” academic structure in the UGC-funded institutions have commenced while that of the remaining two projects are scheduled for commencement by mid 2011.

  


Research and Knowledge Transfer

Theme-based Research Workshop
To facilitate the Hong Kong academic community to discuss, refine and recommend the selection of the “grand challenge topics” for the three research themes set by the government, a one-day workshop on each of the themes was held in August 2010. On average, each workshop was attended by over 200 academic staff.

  

New initiatives to support junior faculties and academics under Humanities & Social Sciences Panel
Early Career scheme: The RGC endorsed the creation of a new peer reviewed funding scheme with a specific budget to support and nurture junior new academics with a view to attracting the best junior faculty academics to Hong Kong and to strengthening the teaching-research nexus. The new scheme will provide fund for both research projects and development of education activities. 

Better support for research in humanities and social sciences disciplines: Having regard to the distinctiveness of disciplines under the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Panel, the RGC will set up new funding schemes to better support relevant academics to undertake research work:

(a) extending the existing teaching relief grants to all disciplines under the HSS Panel and the duration of relief time supported; and

(b) setting up a new prestigious fellowship scheme for outstanding investigators to provide extended timeoff for them to focus on research work and writing.


Outreach visits for promotion of 2011/12 Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme
Chairman, RGC and institution representatives conducted a series of outreach visits to nine countries that took place in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Russia, France, Greece, Germany, Hungary, and Poland in September and October 2010. The delegation visited 24 top-tier institutions in these countries to exchange views with university staff as well as the students, and held 20 information sessions in connection with the outreach visits.

The awardees of the 2010/11 round, RGC members, and representatives of institutions met at a tea reception on 4 November 2010 to exchange views and share experiences.

 
Outreach Visits visits for promotion of the 2011/12  Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme

Strengthening collaborative effort to promote knowledge transfer
The UGC is pleased with the significant increase in the volume of knowledge transfer activities in the institutions, across a good spectrum of foci, both in terms of quantity and quality. This was borne out from the first annual reports to the UGC, with the new stream of recurrent finding on knowledge transfer to institutions completing its first year of operation.

The UGC in collaboration with the Innovation and Technology Commission co-sponsored the eight UGCfunded institutions and Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks to organise the “Knowledge Transfer Conference 2010 – Partnering for Success: Master Innovation, Leveraging Opportunities, Engaging Community” on 8 and 9 November 2010. The event brought together over 400 prominent academic and business leaders who shared their views on knowledge transfer, and engaged a wide range of stakeholders in a series of business-matching, practice sharing, showcases and policy discussion sessions.

  
Large-scale Knowledge Transfer Conference sponsored by the UGC and co-organised by eight UGC-funded institutions in November 2010

 

Teaching and Learning Quality  

Publication of Quality Audit Reports on LU, HKUST and CityU
The QAC published the Quality Audit Reports on LU, HKUST and CityU on 30 July, 18 November and 30 November 2010 respectively.

The Audit Panel’s findings confirmed LU’s positive and energetic approach to quality improvement, and that the attitude was pervasive throughout the institution. The report also reflected the Audit Panel’s positive views on the quality of LU’s educational provision. The HKUST Audit Report confirmed that HKUST has a strong quality assurance culture with robust processes in place, and a staff that is committed to supporting the further development of the University. The CityU Audit Report confirmed that CityU had a proactive approach to improving quality assurance policy and procedures which was evidenced by, among others, its many new initiatives for teaching and learning in progress.

           

Celebrating teaching excellence of institutions
UGC hosted a dinner in September 2010 bringing together UGC Members, institutions’ Council Chairmen, Heads and senior management responsible for teaching quality, and over 60 outstanding academic staff in recognition of the teaching excellence in the UGC-funded institutions. Chairman, UGC also announced on the occasion the setting up of a UGC Teaching Award. Details and selection criteria of the Award were announced in February 2011.

 

Evaluation of Academic Development Proposals for 2012-15 Triennium
The UGC conducts academic planning with the eight institutions through a triennial Academic Development Proposals (ADPs) exercise. The UGC evaluates institutions’ plans set out in their ADPs in respect of their respective role, strategy, teaching and learning, advanced scholarship, and community engagement/relations. Throughout the evaluation process, “quality of taught programmes” is a pervasive theme. On 15 February 2011, institutions submitted their ADPs which are now being evaluated by a dedicated UGC group with a view to forming recommendations on the allocation of student numbers at all levels of study and recurrent grants proposals to the Government.

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Last Revision Date: 1 June 2011