Strategic Objectives and Actions

To realise our vision and positioning, we have established seven strategic objectives for the years 2001 to 2007. In achieving these strategic objectives, we shall undertake the strategic actions and enhancement of current operations listed below.

Strategic Objective 1:

To enhance the all-round development of students, particularly in the areas of global outlook, critical and creative thinking, social and national responsibility, cultural appreciation, life-long learning, biliteracy and trilingualism, entrepreneurship and leadership.

Strategic Action

Goal

S1.1

Academic departments and relevant centres to review and strengthen curricula, teaching and assessment methods, and to ensure the inclusion of components that could help students to attain the qualities listed in the objective.

To ensure that each programme must contain, where appropriate, elements that would enhance students' all-round development, particularly in those areas listed in the objective; so as to develop a basic ‘core-competence' in our graduates.

S1.2

Establish an intensive, high-pace training and development programme to enhance the leadership skills of our students to boost their employability.

To conduct a pilot run and based on which, long-term goals will be set and modifications to the programme will be made.

S1.3

Provide opportunities to a substantial portion of our full-time students for learning experience on the Chinese mainland during their period of study at the PolyU.

To enable full-time undergraduate and sub-degree students to participate in the programme.

S1.4

Implement regular student exchange programmes.

To have an appropriate number of outbound and inbound exchange students involved in the programmes.

S1.5

Expand Preferred Graduate Development Programme (PGDP) to provide more students with workplace learning experience locally, on the Chinese mainland and in overseas countries.

To provide more students to placements on the Chinese mainland and overseas.

Enhancement of current operations

Goal

E1.1

Emphasize workplace learning through cooperative education. Reform and actively promote sandwich programmes.

To devise a system that could facilitate further development and promotion of such activities.

E1.2

Expand our extra-curricular programmes to embrace areas such as creative thinking, global outlook, learning techniques, cultural appreciation and communication skills.

To initiate or expand relevant programmes so as to enable full-time students to participate in such programmes or part thereof.

E1.3

Actively promote and increase the use of multi-media technology in programme delivery. Speed up Web-delivery and distance-learning capability.

To ensure that some of our undergraduate and postgraduate subjects will have an interactive ‘on-line' delivery version.

E1.4

Promote mentorship programme.

To encourage all academic departments to establish mentorship programme so that more full-time students will be supported by mentors.

E1.5

Enhance biliteracy and trilingualism of students.

To further develop mechanisms for students to improve and demonstrate their competence in both languages.

Strategic Objective 2:

To substantially enhance our academic strength and raise the profile of research and postgraduate studies.

Strategic Action

Goal

S2.1

Phase out non-core programmes with low student and market demand and weak departments of insignificant or no strategic value.

To identify such programmes and departments and make recommendations as appropriate.

S2.2

Enhance integration and collaboration across departments and faculties through multi-disciplinary programmes.

To ensure that most academic departments will have major-minor option and each faculty will have double degree (including inter-faculty initiatives).

S2.3

Actively support the development of University Strategic Focus Areas (USFA) and Areas of Strategic Development (ASD) based on existing strength and market demand by recruiting and developing world-class scholars.

To develop world-class Area of Excellence (AoE) and ASD of regional prominence in each of the USFA's.

To recruit additional world-class scholars.

To support staff members for overseas placement for a period up to one year and to provide competitive earmarked research fundings for a suitable number of young professors with very promising potential.

S2.4

Build ‘China Business' to become a specialism of regional or world prominence.

 

S2.5

Further improve institution’s research outputs, inclusive of high-level consultancy, patentable research output, innovative technology and products of high value-addedness.

To substantially enhance the quality and quantity of the institution’s research output. Establish a target RAE research index for each department and an evaluation based on the mechanism and criteria used in the RAE.

S2.6

(A) Significantly increase the number of taught postgraduate students mainly through self-financed programmes.

(B) Significantly increase the number of research degree students.

To increase the number of taught postgraduate students.

 

To increase the number of research degree students.

Enhancement of current operations

Goal

E2.1

Enhance collaborative research across departments and faculties.

Cross departmental/faculty collaboration to be driven by Deans of Faculty and implemented by Research Committee. Funding may be allocated to these projects on a merit basis.

Strategic Objective 3:

To align programmes and research with the needs of the HKSAR, the Chinese mainland and the Southeast Asian region; emphasize applied research and development that could elevate the quality of life and create wealth; and further strengthen our partnership with industry and selected institutions.

Strategic Action

Goal

S3.1

Develop corporate partnerships with business and industry in R&D and management/executive development under the framework of IfE, through strategic partnerships with business and universities in the HKSAR and on the Chinese mainland.

To develop more partnerships.

S3.2

Expand Teaching Company Scheme. Assure our leadership in this activity.

To add more new schemes every year.

S3.3

Encourage initiation of innovative ideas at all levels. Facilitate the establishment of spin-off companies through IfE.

To establish a number of Innovation and Technology Incubation Programme (ITIP) groups.

To establish several spin-off companies through the Entrepreneurship Support Programme (ESP).

Enhancement of current operations

Goal

E3.1

Further strengthen our links with industry and the professions.

To expand existing schemes/activities to enable industrial specialists and distinguished professionals to attach to the PolyU and participate in research and consultancy activities.

Strategic Objective 4:

To develop management excellence; and to strengthen a sense of belonging, quality culture, innovation and creativity, commitment to strive for excellence, and forward-looking mentality in the entire PolyU community.

Strategic Action

Goal

S4.1

Facilitate the adaptability and operational competence of middle and senior management through training and on-the-job development.

To implement some leadership and management development programmes for senior executives (HoD level and above).

To implement training programmes for middle management executives.

S4.2

Recognise and reward outstanding achievements, contributions and innovative initiatives. Identify and publicize models.

To award performance bonus to staff with outstanding performance.

To expand award programmes for outstanding teachers at departmental level.

Enhancement of current operations

Goal

E4.1

Further inculcate a service culture and commitment to reduce bureaucracy in non-academic departments. Re-engineer selected departments and units.

To complete the second batch of the re-engineering exercise and its implementation.

To complete identification of target departments for the third batch of the re-engineering exercise and their implementation.

E4.2

Ensure sound department planning and implementation in alignment with the PolyU Strategic Plan in a highly focused and cost-effective manner.

To complete the review of business plans and budgets, and hold meetings with the Senior Management Committee (SMC) to discuss measures for improvement and implementation.

SMC members to ensure improvement and implementation when preparing and approving the business plans and to submit reports to the Management Upgrade Committee.

E4.3

Ensure visibility of the implications of policy changes and the tangible benefits of change in management structure and processes via effective communication.

To optimize the use of Management Newsletter, Vision and e-mail to convey relevant information.

To enhance communication through various Consultative Groups and informal gatherings hosted by the President.

E4.4

Frequently remind the University community of the importance of quality culture, innovation, team spirit, shared responsibility and ownership.

To implement campaign and reminder system.

Strategic Objective 5:

To expand our student base and to become the leading provider of professional and continuing education programmes in a professional context in the HKSAR.

Strategic Action

Goal

S5.1

Establish more PolyU Outposts on the Chinese mainland.

To establish more Outposts on the Chinese mainland in addition to the existing ones.

S5.2

Increase self-financed part-time PolyU programmes leading to awards. Aggressively develop SPEED and IfE and develop franchised programmes of high market demand.

(Please also refer to S2.6 above.)

To increase self-financed programmes with a substantial number of franchised joint-award programmes of high market demand.

Enhancement of current operations

Goal

E5.1

Actively develop The Hong Kong CyberU (HKCyberU) in partnership with Pacific Century CyberWorks. Offer quality programmes, particularly those of strength and uniqueness.

To offer more programmes, short courses and single subject/seminars.

Strategic Objective 6:

To enhance image building, marketing, alumni development, and development of external funding sources.

Strategic Action

Goal

S6.1

Aggressively develop IfE activities in consultancy, commercialization of innovative technology and products, and contract research.

To enhance marketing efforts. To provide more incentives and support to staff for engagement in such activities.

Enhancement of current operations

Goal

E6.1

Strengthen marketing strategy, departmental marketing and PR capability, and units responsible for marketing and public relations. Enhance market intelligence capability and sensitivity to market needs. Motivate all staff and students to promote and project a strong and positive image of the PolyU at all times.

To significantly increase the exposure and positive publicity for PolyU and its departments by helping departments build their publicity mechanisms and by strengthening the capability and effectiveness of existing offices.

E6.2

Build stronger links with alumni by providing them with more services and learning / development opportunities.

To establish an Alumni Affairs and Development Office. To provide more alumni benefits. Actively develop non-local alumni association or alike.

E6.3

Solicit more research funding from external sources and develop funding sources outside the HKSAR.

To facilitate and support the development of more funding applications and help increase the chance of success by enhancing the quality of applications. To provide top-up fund to projects supported by external funding.

To search and identify funding sources outside the HKSAR through linkage with overseas institutions, and solicit research funding.

E6.4

Promote active use of campus during summer break.

To constantly review and further improve the utilization rate of the campus.

Strategic Objective 7:

To promote the internationalization of the PolyU.

Strategic Action

Goal

S7.1

Promote recruitment of non-local students at undergraduate level. Offer a number of scholarships to cover full or partial (half) financial support.

To recruit students (including self-financed, partially and fully sponsored).

(These will primarily be overseas students when there are separate intakes of Chinese mainland students.)

Enhancement of current operations

Goal

E7.1

Insist on the use of English as the medium of instruction.

To implement an effective monitoring mechanism, and to offer an enhancement programme to further improve the quality of delivery in English.

To establish a group to assess the effectiveness of using English as a medium of instruction.

To ensure language competence and delivery skills of new recruits by requesting candidates for academic positions to conduct a presentation and candidates for non-academic positions to attend a written test.