Quality faculty quality students

Quality faculty
quality students

Tertiary education is an important part of the ‘knowledge industry' which affects the growth of other industries directly. The University is fully aware of what it takes to implement the motto of ‘to learn and to apply, for the benefit of mankind'. The core lies in a team of distinguished faculty, aspiring students and dedicated staff.

Staff

As of 30 June 2001, the University has 1,105 teaching staff, 249 academic equivalent administrative staff and 1,514 general grade and ancillary staff. A total of 142 new academic staff members joined the University while 130 left during the year. The average turnover rate of teaching staff at Instructor level and above was 9.89 per cent, representing a 1.5 per cent increase over the previous year.

Development programmes
To ensure we deliver outputs with high quality, we must invest in our people. During the year a total of $12.4 million was spent on staff development programmes which included attendance at international and local conferences, duty visits, attachment programmes, enrolment in courses leading to higher degrees mainly on a part-time basis. In-house training courses were also provided, such as workshops on management skills, language programmes as well as computer courses.

Appraisal
Since its implementation in 1995, the Staff Appraisal System has been under constant review to ensure its operational effectiveness. A review conducted in September 2000 has resulted in further simplification of the System. In addition, the outcomes of the appraisal process will directly link with various performance-related decision-making processes, reward and sanction matters; and will help to facilitate staff development and training needs. An external consultant has also been appointed to explore the implementation of a 360-degree Management Development and Performance Review for Heads of Department and above.

Distinguished Scholars Scheme
The year saw the appointment of the following professors under this Scheme, which was established to promote academic excellence and to raise the Institution’s academic profile both locally and internationally:

Prof. Alan Davies as Chair Professor of Applied Linguistics on 1 July 2000
Prof. Andrew K.C. Wong as Chair Professor of Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence on 1 July 2000
Prof. H.K. Huang as Chair Professor of Medical Informatics on 1 August 2000
Prof. Ezio Manzini as Chair Professor of Design on 1 October 2000
Prof. Edmund Y.S. Chao as Chair Professor of Bioengineering on 30 October 2000
Prof. R.E. Newnham as Chair Professor of Solid State Science on 10 November 2000
Prof. T.H. Chan as Chair Professor of Organic Chemistry on 1 January 2001
Prof. Pierre Hansen as Chair Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management on 1 January 2001
Prof. William C. Hunter as Chair Professor of Finance and Banking on 1 January 2001
Prof. Ni Jun as Chair Professor of Product Design and Analysis on 1 January 2001
Prof. S.K. Kung as Chair Professor of Multimedia Signal Processing on 2 January 2001

Change in senior staff
New appointments

Dr Lui Sun-wing, as Vice President (Partnership and Continuing Education) on 3 July 2000
Prof. Kaye Chon, as Chair Professor of Hotel and Tourism Management on 3 July 2000
Prof. Nigel J.D. Graham as Chair Professor of Environmental Engineering on 3 July 2000

Promotions

Prof. Suleyman Demokan as Vice President (Research Development) on 1 September 2000
Mrs Vivian Tsang as Head of Research Office on 1 November 2000

Retirements and reappointments

Retired as Vice President and Dean of Faculty of Communication on 30 June 2000, Prof. Joshua Wong Sook-leung was reappointed as Senior Consultant and Chair Professor of Electronic and Information Engineering commencing 25 August 2000.

Departures

Prof. John James Raftery, Chair Professor of Real Estate & Construction Economics, completed his contract on 18 August 2000.
Prof. Edwin John Hearn, Senior Consultant, left the University on 29 September 2000.
Ms Aster Ho Chung-see, Head of Research Office, left the University on 31 October 2000.

Rewarding good work and loyalty
A new selection criterion has been introduced in the category of research and scholarly activities under The President’s Awards for Outstanding Performance/Achievement to give recognition to the staff who have been successful in bidding for the Research Grants Council’s Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG) in recent years. This year a total of 40 staff members received the honour.

The University thanked 154 staff members for their loyalty. At a special ceremony held in their honour, the President presented the Long Service Award to 36 colleagues who had served the Institution for 25 years, 57 for 20 years and 61 for 15 years.

Ensuring effectiveness and efficiency
The Internal Audit Unit continued to play a key role in providing an independent appraisal function within the University for further improving the quality of its operations. Reporting directly to the President, the Unit is responsible for planning and implementing regular audits to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of controls established by Management to safeguard the University’s assets, to secure the accuracy and reliability of its records and to promote the efficiency of its operations.

During the year, a five-year rotational audit plan was prepared for scheduling a full coverage of major audit activities to be implemented within a five-year period. The details of the plan were based on the results of a risk assessment exercise in which the risk levels associated with each functional area were assessed to determine the priority and frequency of audit areas.

In addition, 13 operational reviews were completed in which the soundness of controls in both financial and operational systems were reviewed and assessed. The reviews also touched on the effectiveness of operational areas in achieving their performance objectives and the identification of inefficient and uneconomical operational practices.
Other major activities performed by the Unit included four compliance audits, 12 follow-up audits, three ad hoc assignments and an annual report.

Students

In 2000/2001 the total student enrolment on taught programmes leading to regular awards stood at 16,828, which included 11,453 full-time and 5,375 part-time students.

Of these, 10,610 students (corresponding to 8,328 full-time equivalent students) were enrolled on degree and postgraduate taught programmes funded by the University Grants Committee. This amounts to 64 per cent of the University’s full-time equivalent student population of 13,032.

Recognising the best
Six all-round outstanding students of the University shared their honour and joy with family members and friends at a presentation ceremony in February.

The award of The Most Outstanding PolyU Student went to Miss Emily Choy Pik-yin, a final-year student in optometry. She was also selected the Outstanding Student of the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences.

The other five awardees were:

Miss Ng Wan-see, Outstanding Student of the Faculty of Applied Science and Textiles
Miss Chan Fung-ki, Outstanding Student of the Faculty of Business and Information Systems
Miss Man Yuk-i, Outstanding Student of the Faculty of Communication
Miss Kam Wing-chi, Outstanding Student of the Faculty of Construction and Land Use
Miss Chu Miu-lai, Outstanding Student of the Faculty of Engineering

The awardees were each presented a certificate and a cash prize of HK$5,000. Their names have been inscribed on a plaque put up on the University campus.

Nurturing the mind
An intensive, large-scale training programme entitled Leadership and Competence for Success 2001 was organised in June 2001 to enhance students' leadership qualities. Two consultancy firms specialised in human resources development were commissioned to run a series of four residential camps, each covering a comprehensive 10-day programme for 40 students. The well designed programmes aimed to equip our students with the necessary skills to become outstanding executives when they join the workforce.

To broaden students?outlook and to facilitate all-round development, 157 Complementary Studies courses on a wide range of topics were offered during the year, attracting a total enrolment of
4,583. Some of these courses entailed excursions and site visits in Hong Kong, as well as study tours to the Chinese mainland.

Invited by China’s Ministry of Education, the Student Affairs Office worked with the Students?Union to bring 34 students on an exchange visit to the Three Gorges in June 2001. Co-ordinated by the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong SAR, the visit has greatly enhanced students' understanding of the rapid economic development and academic institutions on the mainland.

During the year a series of three dinner talks was held to broaden the horizon of students and to acquaint them with basic social etiquette and interpersonal skills. The interesting topics, namely ‘From Ophthalmologist to Outstanding Young Person of the World' ‘University Students' 'Financial Management Strategies and the Outlook of Hong Kong Stock Market' and ‘The Outlook of Tourism in Hong Kong' have attracted a total of 283 students.

Learning about the real working world
Building on its close links with industry, the University continues to enjoy warm support from the private and public sectors in grooming our students. In the summer of 2001 more than 700 students took up placements in different parts of the world, covering 18 countries and areas in total, thanks to employers' enthusiasm for our ‘Preferred Graduate' Development Programme. Pre-placement training was offered to participating students to prepare them for the challenge.

As a co-applicant, the University has won a generous sponsorship from the Jockey Club Charities Trust to support the Summer Internship Programme for local tertiary students. The University secured 68 placements out of a total of 321 in 2001. We continued to capitalise on the support of the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IAESTE) to help our students gain as much overseas exposure as possible.

A Career Week was launched between November and December 2000, which featured a talk on ‘Fit Thinking for Fast Times' by Mr Albert Mok, a PolyU alumnus and the winner of Young Industrialist Awards of HK 2000. He shared his valuable experience in acquiring competencies necessary in a fast-paced work world. A record high of
4,500 students attended activities during the week.

In February 2001, the Student Affairs Office joined hands with the Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong in conducting the Business Mentoring Forum. Participants found the plant visitations to Guangdong and the forum ‘Challenges in the New Millennium ?Career Direction and Re-routing for PolyU Graduates?most fruitful in preparing them to work in Hong Kong and on the mainland. The keynote speech delivered by Mr Michael M.Y. Suen, Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, at the forum has driven home to our students the importance of lifelong learning.

Building up powerful physique
Besides academic pursuits, the University places great emphasis on students?physical, psychological, social and aesthetic development. Last year, the Student Affairs Office ran a non-compulsory Physical Education Programme, consisting of 178 courses. ‘Sports and Leisure in Human Development?was offered as one of the General Education subjects, which aimed at promoting well-rounded education on campus, covering such areas as Philosophy, Value, Aesthetics, History and Science.

Apart from on-campus sports facilities, the off-campus outdoor sports facilities ?Joint Sports Centre, jointly owned by our University, City University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist University, continued to provide international standard facilities to the three universities for training, teaching, competitions as well as recreational activities. The new web-based Sports Facilities Booking System (SFBS) came into service in September 2000 and positive feedback has been received. With the easily accessible SFBS and the promotion of sports and recreational activities such as ‘Healthy Exercise for All?and ‘Wellness in Action? there was a significant increase in the utilisation of most sports venues.

Winning external awards
Despite keen competition among students from other tertiary institutions, PolyU students have achieved excellent results in external programmes and awards schemes, including:

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce Excellence Awards for Tertiary Students 2000/01 ?this was the first time the organisation offered the awards, at $100,000 each. Two out of the three awards were reaped by PolyU students.
AIA Young Leaders Development Programme 2000 ?a team of four PolyU students won two out of the three prizes in this programme, namely, the Most Outstanding Team Award and Best Report Writing Award.
The Outstanding Service Awards for Tertiary Students ?Five out of the 20 awardees were PolyU students.

Graduates

Joining the workforce
The overall employment scenario of our full-time graduates has improved during the past year. The Student Affairs Office conducted an employment survey on the graduates in 2000. Of the 3,997 graduates, 3,783 have responded, representing a response rate of 94.6 per cent. It is worth noting that the unemployment rate of this batch of graduates has shown a marked decrease from 5.3 per cent in the previous year to two per cent. The average salary of all employed graduates stood at $11,445.

Strong connection with alumni
It is commonly known that the Hong Kong Polytechnic established in 1972 is the predecessor of our University. However, it may not be so well known that the Hong Kong Technical College set up in 1947 is the forerunner of the Polytechnic. In fact, the very beginning of our Institution can be traced back to the year 1937, in which the Government Trade School in Wan Chai was founded.

To establish the link between the University and its graduates of earlier years, the first-ever Alumni Reunion & Crowning Dinner was held in December 2000. The gathering was a tremendous success as approximately 350 senior alumni, including graduates of the Trade School, came together to catch up on the old times.
Another highlight of the year is the third Outstanding PolyU Alumni Award selection, jointly organised by the University and the Federation of PolyU Alumni Associations. This biennial event accords public recognition to outstanding graduates of the University and its predecessors for their illustrious professional accomplishments and tremendous contributions to their alma mater and the community. The gala dinner cum award presentation attracted approximately 500 guests and friends of the Institution to share the joy of the awardees.

The two overseas societies for graduates and past employees, namely the PolyU (Western Canada) Association, and the PolyU Alumni and Past Employees (Eastern Canada) Association, had a busy and fruitful year in providing various activities, such as academic activities, leisure talks, picnics and dinner gatherings for their members.

Back home three more departmental alumni associations have been established, bringing the total number of associations to 31. During the year, they have organised a diverse array of activities for their members, including a vegetarian feast for the elderly organised by the Institute of Textiles & Clothing Alumni Association and the departmental homecoming gathering organised by the Applied Social Studies Graduates Association.

New driving force
Last year also saw the establishment of the new Alumni Affairs and Development Office which fulfils the functions of alumni liaison and fund-raising. It is hoped that resources can be more effectively deployed to strengthen the University’s alumni development and to solicit support from our alumni as well as the community at large.