Mr Chairman, Honoured Guests, Honorary Graduates, Parents, Colleagues, Award Recipients, Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, I wish to extend a warm welcome to all of you who are here today to participate in our ninth Congregation.
First of all, I am most delighted to report that our 65th Anniversary celebrations came to a fruitful close in the final month of last year. Recapping on those festive celebratory events, the Human Rainbow was undoubtedly the most unprecedented endeavour. On 6 October 2002, the PolyU community was proud to set a new Guinness World Record by forming the largest Human Rainbow in the presence of our Chancellor Mr Tung Chee-hwa. This spectacular rainbow was formed by a total of 11,273 PolyU members, including Members of the University Court and Council, students, staff, alumni and their families and friends at the Hong Kong Stadium. We took on this big challenge not only to celebrate our 65th Anniversary, but also to demonstrate the solidarity of the PolyU community. In a magnificent way, the Human Rainbow has affirmed our unity and manifested the "can-do" spirit of Hong Kong people during hard times.
A series of fund-raising activities was organized during the 65th Anniversary celebrations. Apart from contributing $450,000 to each of two charitable organizations, we have successfully raised nearly $4 million for the PolyU Development Fund. The University is truly grateful to all those who have supported these events.
However, the transient joy of celebrating the 65th Anniversary could do little to drive away our worries concerning the economic situation in Hong Kong. Although our economy is showing signs of recovery over the past year, deflation still persists and unemployment stands high at nearly nine per cent. As a result, many of our graduates are deeply anxious about their career prospects or possible decrease in salary income. This situation is indeed worrying and I greatly empathize with them.
The current economic downturn has put our community and every citizen to a rigorous test. In the face of a serious budget deficit, the SAR Government has tightened its expenditure to such an extent that even its long-standing support for education is being shaken. Consequently, the higher education sector has to face the stark reality of budget cuts. However, I still firmly believe that the Government should take into consideration the well-being of Hong Kong, China and the global community in formulating its education policy and measures. It must realize the importance of knowledge and human capital; for education is not merely an expense, but a long-term investment with profound implications for the future of Hong Kong and the Chinese people. The Government should support the further advancement of the education sector in a forward-looking manner. Only in this way can our tertiary institutions build upon their solid foundations to forge ahead,
realize their goals, raise their standards in both teaching and research activities, enhance the competitiveness of our commerce and industry, and nurture high-calibre graduates for Hong Kong and the motherland. I earnestly hope that the SAR Administration can seriously take this matter into consideration.
During the previous Congregations, I have repeatedly called for closer economic integration between Hong Kong and the mainland. Indeed, our future hinges on the support of the motherland as much as the co-operation between Hong Kong and the mainland. We should therefore never overlook the well-being of both places in what we do, and try our best to support the advancement of the country as a whole. During the past year, I am most delighted to witness further integration between Hong Kong and the mainland. In this connection, officials of the SAR and the Guangdong Provincial Government have been working closely to lay solid foundations for further collaboration in different areas. Of more significance is the signing of the "Closer Economic Partnerships Arrangement" (CEPA) between the mainland and HKSAR in June, a move that signifies the strong support of the Central Government. Undoubtedly, the all-encompassing CEPA will pave the way for further liberalization of trade. Moreover, the Central Government has launched the Individual Visit Scheme and given approval for the building of a bridge linking Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macau, providing a ray of hope to our stagnant economy. These landmark developments have altogether provided a solid base for us, and it is a key task of PolyU to help different economic sectors to meet the challenge of a knowledge-based economy in the course of achieving further integration with the mainland.
With the advent of the knowledge-based economy, I believe education is our top priority, and the process of grooming talents must be student-centred. To achieve economic integration between Hong Kong and the mainland, we need talents who are well equipped with modern knowledge as well as a global outlook. Therefore, I think the territory's higher education sector should play a key role in grooming talents throughout the integration process. Over the past decades, our institutions have recruited thousands of quality scholars to join the tertiary workforce, many of them are top-notch Chinese scholars who have pursued further studies abroad. These scholars have not only imparted their knowledge to our younger generation, but also committed themselves to a wide range of basic and applied research activities and rendered valuable professional services to business and industry; thereby providing further impetus for the growth of our economy. Taking all these factors into consideration, I firmly believe that each and every tertiary institution in the territory has a key role to play in the course of achieving further integration between Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta region, and even the whole southern China. I sincerely urge our sister institutions to set their sights on the mainland while retaining Hong Kong as their own base, and proactively expand their programmes in southern China. We can make full use of our advantages – our academics and researchers, in addition to our legal system, transportation and communication infrastructures – to groom talents for the Pearl River Delta Region and southern China, explore new frontiers in scientific research, expedite technology transfer, and make concrete contributions to the integration process.
In the light of this development, PolyU has formulated a blueprint for the further development of outpost activities in the next five years. In fact, we have since 1998 forged alliances with many major institutions on the mainland, including Zhejiang University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Chongqing University and Peking University. Over the years, we have established four training bases in Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Xi'an, offering internationalized executive training programmes in these cities. With a total enrolment of nearly 2,000 in some 30 programmes, out of which 12 are approved by the State Council's Academic Degree Committee, we are now offering the largest number of accredited programmes on the mainland among all of the universities in Hong Kong and overseas. Amidst this change, we also witnessed a big jump in the number of MBA students to more than 400 over the past two years. Today at this Congregation, we have conferred academic awards upon over 200 graduates from different teaching outposts. In the next few years, we will seek to establish more teaching outposts in strategic locations to expand our serviced areas. At the same time, we will expand our outpost programmes in both scope and scale, enabling our students to sharpen their competitiveness internationally. We have every confidence and ample expertise to achieve this goal, with a view to grooming more professional manpower to meet the challenges of a knowledge-based economy.
More recently, the University Council and Senate have approved the establishment of External Programmes at the Higher Diploma level, under our licensing or franchising arrangement with other educational institutions, outside the territory of HKSAR. This is truly a pioneering endeavour for us, and is also the first time that we have tried to export our professional-oriented sub-degree programmes. Although we will launch these programmes under licensing or franchising arrangements, we will do whatever we can to safeguard the quality of these programmes and that of the teaching staff. All graduates must meet our stringent requirements before they can be conferred with PolyU academic awards. It is anticipated that these Higher Diploma programmes will be run on a pilot basis as early as 2004.
At present, the overwhelming majority of established mainland institutions are clustered around the north of the Yangtze River and, there are only a few reputable institutions that provide education for nearly 300 million people residing in the eight provinces in southern China. In order to redress this imbalance, we will strive to forge ahead with the plan of developing PolyU as a leading provider of professionally-oriented education in southern China. We will also explore the possibility of establishing a sub-campus in southern China, making use of our teaching staff to provide quality education, conduct applied research, groom more talents for the country and foster scientific advancement.
Despite our priority to spearhead education development on the mainland, PolyU remains firmly rooted in Hong Kong, and we will never forget our primary concern of serving the local community. We are geared to the goal of achieving academic excellence in a professional context, and will always do our very best to realize this mission. In addition to preserving our international dimension, we will always strive to meet the needs of the community in what we do, especially in grooming professional manpower, conducting applied research and providing services to enhance the competitiveness of our industry and commerce. Let me once again reiterate the following message: our task is to groom all-round graduates, who are well equipped with professional knowledge to meet the challenges of the new era, for the well being of both Hong Kong and the motherland.
To all those graduates who are here today, I am pleased to congratulate you on this happy occasion. You are the cornerstone and the emerging workforce that provides new impetus for the further advancement of our knowledge-based economy. As recipients of quality tertiary education, you should seek to fulfil your lofty goals and know full-well the importance of pursuing lifelong education.
Nowadays, human society is highly differentiated as far as the division of labour is concerned. It calls for interaction and collaboration between different professions. Regardless of whether you are an accountant, engineer or designer, you can no longer work on your own. You have to work together with professionals from other disciplines to succeed. In light of this development, our graduates must be well equipped with professional knowledge and instilled with a sense of team spirit, without which they can neither integrate with the community nor make any substantial contributions to the further advancement of their own careers and the community at large.
In today's pluralistic society, our young people should be effective communicators and adopt an open-minded attitude towards different cultures and opinions. Upon your graduation, we hope that you will be able to continue to immerse yourselves in the sea of knowledge, covering various aspects such as human society, history, culture, music, arts, religion and philosophy. More importantly, you have to broaden your horizons and gain an in-depth understanding of the history and culture of your own country. Only in this way can you realize the values of life in its fullness, understand your obligations to society and your own country, and pass the wealth of human knowledge to the next generations.
Of course I realize that many of you are experiencing difficulties at the moment, while some of you may still be looking for a job. This situation will surely cast a certain degree of anxiety among you, but I do hope that you can face these temporary hardships with boldness and determination, and do not lose sight of your goal and vision. You must have both ambitious goals and a down-to-earth work attitude, and always seek to sharpen your competitiveness. The road to success is never an easy one, so do not be pessimistic and never look down upon yourselves. Remember, success belongs to those young people with lofty vision and perseverance. Our motherland has offered a helping hand and already opened a door of opportunities to us.
I sincerely urge you to seize your chances on the mainland, and do not be afraid of going further to distant regions to develop your careers. Once you accept this challenge with courage and vision, the fruit of your labour will be realized in the next ten or twenty years. Your hard work will not be in vain, and I am sure that a bright future is awaiting you in your new endeavours.
In closing, I wish to salute the three recipients of honorary degrees and all our graduates. May good health, happiness and good luck be with you always.
Thank you.
