Welcoming Remarks by Chairman, UGC at the Presentation Ceremony of the 2021 UGC Teaching Award (28.9.2021)
2021 UGC Teaching Award
Welcoming Remarks by
Chairman, UGC at the Presentation Ceremony of the 2021 UGC Teaching Award (28.9.2021)
Council Chairmen, Presidents, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good evening. Welcome to the Presentation Ceremony of the 2021 UGC Teaching Award. It is great to be able to meet everyone face to face instead of the closed-door ceremony last year because of the pandemic.
2. First of all, let me say I am delighted with the quality of the nominations for our Award this year. We have received a total of 19 outstanding nominations from the universities and eventually shortlisted seven finalists. Competition was intense, and it was certainly not an easy task for our Selection Panel to select just one awardee under each category. I would like to congratulate all the seven finalists as every one of them deserves to win! Let's give them all a round of applause!
3. On this, my heartfelt thanks must go to Professor Marilee Ludvik of University of Texas Arlington who chaired the Selection Panel, as well as all other Panel members, namely Professor Chris Brink, Mrs Belinda Greer, Professor Carmen Wong and Professor Simon Bates, for their immense contribution to the rigorous and demanding selection process.
4. Now, what we have all been waiting for, let me announce the results of the 2021 UGC Teaching Award. They are:
- Dr KOON Yee-wan from HKU for the General Faculty Members category;
- Professor Rhea LIEM from HKUST for the Early Career Faculty Members category; and
- the Joint University Mental-Wellness Project Team led by Dr Sylvia KWOK from CityU for the Teams category, with Professor Daniel WONG from HKU, Dr TO Siu-ming from CUHK, Dr PAN Jiayan from HKBU and Miss Loretta LEUNG from EdUHK as team members.
5. While Professor Ludvik, the Chair of the Selection Panel, cannot join us today, she has asked me to share with you that she was truly impressed by the remarkable achievements of all awardees and would like to extend her heartfelt congratulations. We are proud of the achievements of this group of exceptionally outstanding teachers in our higher education sector. Their passion, dedication and commitment to teaching excellence truly deserve our recognition and admiration. May I also congratulate their respective universities for having these outstanding teachers.
6. The UGC Teaching Award goes beyond recognition of individuals: it is a celebration of our academic community's commitment to excellence in teaching and learning. The past year was certainly a challenge to everyone but all our universities have done a marvellous job in switching to virtual teaching and learning. I am sure each of you have made tremendous contributions together with your other colleagues on this unforgettable journey. Thank you.
7. While many universities have resumed in-person teaching this semester, we now live in a different world facing an uncharted path. This is why the UGC allocated a Special Grant of $165 million earlier this year to promote the strategic development of virtual teaching and learning. We have high hope that universities will make good use of the special funding to support our university teachers with the necessary infrastructure and appropriate guidance in place for new and exciting ways to deliver high quality teaching in our sector under the "new normal".
8. Once again, may I extend my warmest congratulations to the awardees this year. I also wish to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to the eight UGC-funded universities for supporting our event and to the Chairman and Members of the Selection Panel for making this year's Award a success.
9. I must also thank members of the Hong Kong Teaching Excellence Alliance, led by Professor Isabella Poon, for their tremendous efforts in spreading the impact of the award in the past two years. There will be a HKTEA gala dinner next month which I am sure will be a great success.
10. Finally, let me announce a piece of good news. in view of the high quality of the nominations over the last few years and to recognise the importance of teaching and learning, UGC has just decided to increase the award grant from currently $500,000 to $750,000 from next year onwards.
11. I wish you all an enjoyable evening and we look forward to seeing everyone in next year's presentation ceremony for the UGC Teaching Award. Thank you.