“The Faculty of Business is very proud that Professor Timothy Tong accepted its invitation to declare open an international conference on accounting as his first official function since taking the helm of PolyU.” Professor Judy Tsui, the Dean of the Faculty of Business said this after the opening ceremony.

The international conference was the Special Joint Symposium on Asia-related issues co-organised by Contemporary Accounting Research and Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics. It was hosted by the School of Accounting and Finance and was held on 3-4 January 2009. Professor Tong said that the Symposium epitomised the internationalisation for which the University has been striving. He also characterised accounting as a “niche area” in the PolyU by reason of the vast network of accounting graduates it had produced over the years.

Professor Tong took over as President of the PolyU with effect from 1 January 2009.

Professor Alain Bensoussan joined the Faculty as Chair Professor on 9 January 2009 under the PolyU World-class Scholar Scheme. As an internationally acclaimed scholar in the field of stochastic control, inventory management as well as risk and decision analysis, he will lead research on risk management at the PolyU. Professor Bensoussan is currently Distinguished Research Professor and Director of the International Centre for Decision and Risk Analysis (ICDRiA) of the School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). With the importance of risk management highlighted by the financial tsunami, PolyU and the UTD are joining forces to focus on research and education in this area.

Professor Judy Tsui, the Associate Vice President and Dean of the Faculty of Business signed, on behalf of PolyU, a Memorandum of Understanding on Saturday, 10 January 2009 with an Education Foundation of which the Minister of Transport, Malaysia, the Honourable Dato’ Ong Tee Keat is the patron.

Dato’ Ong Tee Keat is the only Chinese minister in the Malaysian cabinet. He is the president of the Malaysian Chinese Association, one of the leading parties in the coalition that rules Malaysia. By signing the MoU, the parties agreed to promote:

• Recruit outstanding undergraduates and graduates to study at PolyU;
• Exchange of academic and professional knowledge;
• Collaborate in research and research output; and
• Participate in internationally funded projects.

The Memorandum of Understanding was one of the outcomes of a visit to the Faculty of Business on 14 June 2008, by a delegation led by Dato’ Ong Tee Keat. Dato’ Ong was present when the Memorandum of Understanding was executed and officiated at the signing ceremony. Dato’ Ong described a studentship at PolyU as providing a unique opportunity to acquire a perspective on how China was changing to meet the challenges of the ever-changing present while gaining entry into the network of PolyU alumni. He also drew attention to the Faculty’s Work-Integrated Education, exchange and internship programmes.

Professor Tsui announced that PolyU recognises and nurtures academic excellence by offering scholarships at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. These are available to international students including those from Malaysia. Professor Tsui remarked that in the past, Malaysian students had done very well at PolyU. As a representative of Malaysian students who had read for a degree at PolyU, Professor Tsui introduced Miss Ting Mun Yi, who had graduated with a degree in Marketing just last year. Miss Ting, who now works in Wan Chai, spoke of her PolyU experience in glowing terms.

The Faculty of Business presented Mr Wang Xiaolong with a Community Service Award in recognition of his contribution in making Mainland students and their parents aware of the Faculty and PolyU by way of blogs. Mr Wang led a team of 17 students from various faculties to create a blogring named Express Train to PolyU (香港理大直通車 http://q.blog.sina.com.cn/hkpolyu/) with a video blog called Life in Hong Kong (香港有我 http://q.blog.sina.com.cn/hkpolyu/vlog/). They have released six videos on different aspects of campus life and the experience of studying in Hong Kong. Their blogs have been immensely popular; the blogring recorded over 40,000 clicks since its establishment in July 2008 while the videos recorded 12,000 clicks since September of the same year. A forthcoming video will feature an interview with the President Emeritus Poon Chung-kwong.

A team of three Management and Marketing students – Miss Katy Lee Pik Ying, Mr Wong Shu Hoi and Miss Kinki Poon Yee Man - won a branding competition hosted by ATV (AsiaTelevision). The team won on the basis of their detailed proposal for an interactive game meant to promote corporate social responsibility. Their interactive game is both educational and entertaining. Even as it entertains, it seeks to enhance the image of a group of finance professionals by having them place their expertise at the service of the community. Their proposal incorporates an education platform to sensitise the general public to the need of managing wealth and of the skills needed for that purpose.

The ATV Brand Dialogue Programme was made of seven episodes. In each episode two teams of university students made their presentations and fielded queries from the CEO of a brand. The PolyU team beat their opponent in the third episode.

A team of 33 PolyU business students visited the Yangtze Delta region together with students from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Southeast University of Nanjing, the PRC. The group of around 100 students toured the region for six days beginning on 23 December 2008. Apart from a research institute, the group visited various places of historical and cultural importance. The tour aroused the participants’ interest in Chinese culture and in teaching methods used in Mainland China. The event was supported by the Faculty of Business which stresses the whole person development of its students.

The Faculty held 13 seminars on their full range of taught postgraduate programmes and drew 1,120 participants on 20 December 2008. This compares to 897 in the same event a year ago in spite of a widespread belief that the enthusiasm for business and related studies is ebbing away. The Master of Business Administration (MBA) talk attracted the largest number of prospective students followed by that of the Master of Finance and the Master of Corporate Finance and the Master of Science in Management programmes. The Faculty’s series of seminars was part of the PolyU Postgraduate Programmes Info Day.