In summer,

the song sings itself.

- William Carlos Williams

and more...

2010 / 09 SEPN03

Over 30 international higher educational institutes which include those from Europe, the US, China, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand attended a two-day conference entitled “Higher Stakes: Managing University Reputation in a Competitive World” at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) on 22 June 2010.

Organized by the World 100 Reputation Network and HKU, the World 100 Conference aimed to address the issues of reputation management for universities.In his opening address, the Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen Ming-yeung stressed on the importance of collaboration with international peers to learn and strive for excellence. This resonates with the government’s policy to further internationalise the higher education sector in Hong Kong that it may be an educational hub in the near future.

HKU Vice-Chancellor Professor Lap-Chee Tsui also elaborated in a speech entitled “Growing and Sustaining Excellence in an Ever-Changing World”, the benefits of internationalisation. He spoke about HKU’s strategy to attract and nurture worldwide outstanding scholars, its development towards internationalisation and engaging the rest of China, as well as broadening partnerships and alternative funding sources.

To attain such esteem often requires universities to develop its “global brand” and World University Rankings have played a key role in this aspect. Mr Phil Baty, Deputy Editor of Times Higher Education briefed audience of a current review on the methodology for the rankings in 2010. A major revamp will be taken on the “reputation survey” from academic peer reviews, which used to constitute 40% of the scores – the rest coming from citations, recruiter review, student faculty ratio, international students and international staff.

The new reputation survey consists of a larger pool of over 13,000 international academic respondents. They will provide their opinions on the standards of both research and teaching. The reputation survey will be included as a research and institutional indicator to assess the score rankings. As a research indicator, it will be included along citation impacts, academic papers and research income which makes up 55% of the scores while as an institutional indicator, it will be the reputation survey (teaching), together with indicators of undergraduate entrants, PhD and undergraduate awarded, and institutional income, will make up 25% of the scores. The rest of the scores will come from economic activity and innovation, and institutional diversity.

HKU hostsWorld 100 Conference

Snapshots@Summer

N032010 / 09 SEP

01

TASTER DAYS@Summer

How can we live in Shanghai

and not be seen at the Bund?

Great people, great fun! HKU made me want to learn more about the engineering world. I can now proudly say that I have seen a levitating train and learnt all about the intricate mechanical parts of an airplane wing. The lecturers there were fantastic as well, full of energy and fueled with interest for their field of knowledge.

Lim Siu Ann,Taylors’ College (Malaysia)

Wong Chern Yao, Taylors’ College (Malaysia)

Though the Taster Days programme was short (obviously because it’s supposed to be for us to “Taste”) I found it incredibly good: from the hospitality to the food to the people to the university to the transportation. Everything that I have experienced during my stay will remain forever etched in my memory. To sum it up, Taster Days gave me a mouthful to chew on but the best part is I’m digesting it slowly! =)

I had a fun and beneficial time at HKU Taster Days and I would love to be the part of other such programmes at your university.Gaurav Kamani, International School Bangalore (India)

Through kinds of hand-on activities, we have gained valuable experience. It has been a great opportunity to know other people as well. I believe the Taster Days Programme has function well and would like to thank you again for your preparation. I sincerely hope that I will be visiting the University of Hong Kong again one day.Wang Yiru,Raffles Institution (Singapore)

I find the Taster Days Programme very stimulating. We were introduced for the first time to university-level sciences, especially in engineering. Having a first-time view of the world’s cutting-edge technology, including the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) instrument was astounding and inspiring as well. Besides experiencing life as a student in HKU, there, I also had the chance to interact with 70 over students from different countries. Three days at the leading university in Asia was indeed a chance of a lifetime.

Lim Tze Yang, Chung Ling High School (Malaysia)

Snapshots@Summer

What is LLIC? LLIC programme is a 7-week internship placement programme in either Hong Kong or Shanghai. The purpose of the programme is to provide opportunities for students to experience working in Asia, to increase their understanding of Chinese culture and to extend their professional and personal networks in Hong Kong and China. Not only will our students gain experience in different industries through the internship, they will also benefit from working alongside overseas participants from top-tier universities such as Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Brown, Columbia, etc. The companies participating in this programme range from small to medium enterprises which includes a range of different industries from finance/accounting and non-profit to design and commercial companies.

Headstarta taste of university lifeOrganized by The University of Hong Kong (HKU), the Taster Days Programme brought together students from different Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Mainland China to offer them an insight into university life and information about the opportunities available to them in the future. During the 3-day programme, students participated in site visits, hands-on training and workshops, as well as interactive discussions organized by the Faculty of Engineering. They also had the privilege to stay in a HKU residential hall!

A Welcoming Tea Reception – The whole gang altogether – fresh and ready to go; with well-wishers and 2009 LLICers.After all it’s the ‘Learn, Live and Intern in China’

programme and what better way than to get together

to taste the local Shanghai fare.

A team of four students from the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE) and Faculty of Science has won the 2010 CIMA Global Business Challenge. The team competed against over 10,000 students from 339 universities worldwide this year, with national champions from the UK, Ireland, Sri Lanka, India, mainland China, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, UAE, The Philippines, Bangladesh and Australia in the final on a business case of a mobile network operator.

Learning to live under one roof – come shine, come rain – nothing will stop us with our internship – we will get there dry and on time.

Studyingabroad

Connect U & You

Studying abroad could have been my best experience in my three years in college.

I’m a journalism student, therefore, to be able to experience American free-wheeling media up close and up front is definitely a mind-blowing experience for me.

I was enrolled in the Missouri School of Journalism, the first journalism school established in USA and also one of the top three journalism schools there. I had the most rigorous and hands-on journalism education for the past five months working in a fully functioning local radio station and website.

Never had I ever thought that I would be required to produce radio and video stories every week. Never would I imagine that I could solicit articles from local citizens about what they thought of a school bond proposal. Never had I expected that I could get into the groove of local town politics in less than a month. But I did it all.

I have to admit that I was always a city girl. I grew up, eat, lived and breathe city life. Missouri is what I would call the heartland of America and to live in a little university town of Missouri came as a total shock to me when I first went there. There were vast acres of cornfields and farmlands beside the school. Driving became a must. Life all of a sudden became… slower.

But to have the chance to experience the rural life was just awesome, partially because I know I would not have another legitimate excuse to do it. I visited my friend’s farm, saw some of his horses, went fishing by the lake, sat on his tractor, played soccer and basically, got in touch with nature.

I’ve met new friends over there: Sometimes, we would go to the farmers market together; Sometimes, we would work hard on our assignments together; Sometimes, we would just hang out to drink.

Did I forget to mention study abroad is also a good opportunity to travel around the country? Besides going to popular tourist destinations in the East and West coast, I’ve also got the chance to visit places less travelled to in the mid-west such as Chicago, St. Louis and Madison.

If you’ve got the desire to live on another continent and experience a different kind of lifestyle and culture, going for an exchange program is a fantastic chance for you to do so. And the good news for your parents would be that they do not need to burn a hole in their pockets to send you for an overseas education and still allow you to live on a foreign land for a short while.

See Jie Yi,

Year 2,Journalism

1See Jie Yi (on the left)1

At radio station. I was working for KBIA 91.3, an American National Public Radio affiliate. These are the radio broadcasters who work there. Had a very good learning experience over there.

2

During our last lesson for one of my courses, our class went out to the park and had an awesome picnic that put an end to my entire stay in the school.

3

True/False Film Festival. This is the yearly documentary film festival that is held in town for four days where independent film makers will come and showcase their films. People go crazy and nutty in this town for the festival.

4

3 4 5

2

Greek Week. In US colleges, fraternities and sororities are the really common clubs to join and they are usually named after Greek symbols such as alpha, beta, theta etc. So Greek week is organized for these frats and soro to play games and interact.

5

Connect U & You

Lisa Onland

Year 1,Journalism

Summer always comes with the promise of landing that big internship at that company you’ve been eyeing up for the past few months or so. As a first year student, fresh out of my second semester, I came to the sobering conclusion that simply getting my hands on any job over the summer vacation would be enough of a challenge. However, through what can only be described as an auspicious twist of fate, I ended up not only securing an internship to fill my sweltering summer days, but one at a magazine that I had in fact been eyeing up since arriving in the city.

On the third of May I traded in my student status to take on the role as Time Out magazine’s new editorial intern. Wide-eyed and more than a tad intimidated, I turned up at their Hennessy Road office huffing and puffing after missing my bus and having to sprint down the mid-levels escalator to avoid being late on my first day.

I needn’t have bothered. As it turns out, Time Out is the epitome of a funky laid-back work environment. That is, until production week comes along. Suddenly everyone knuckles down to meet the deadlines flying out on a daily basis, me included. But the pressure has given me the chance to work on a fair amount of great pieces. So far I have been involved in the Food and Shopping sections, writing previews for Music and Theatre and contributing to the Travel section.

At Time Out they want their interns to get as much on-the-job experience as possible. This means that besides my general in office writing duties, I’m also regularly sent out on product scouting or information gathering expeditions. Just the week before I wrote this article, I was asked to scour the city’s cafes and hairdressers for story on Hong Kong’s tipping culture. Another recent highlight included going along to see the musical Chicago and then being entrusted to write up an online review of the performance.

Now halfway into my internship experience, I can see how much confidence I’ve gained not just in the workplace but in my skills as a writer as well. There’s nothing like fielding three deadlines a day to convince yourself that you have what it takes to really get creative under pressure!

Summer Internship Time Out Magazine

N032010 / 09 SEP

02

N032010 / 09 SEP

03

N032010 / 09 SEP

04

When that last examination booklet slams to a close and you’ve stacked away all those offending textbooks for next year, what’s left to do in the summer vacation but catch up on a bit of R&R? Well, taking it easy is not on the cards for these three HKU students.

Zoe Zhao, Venus Weier Tjang and Geneva Damayanti certainly won’t be sitting idle these few months. Each with their own exciting plan for the summer, these girls are off to pack in as much before the start of the new semester as possible. Fancy setting off to Africa to work with impoverished communities? What about backpacking through the European continent for a month or two? And don’t think you have to leave Hong Kong to have a fantastic time. How about teaching English to disadvantaged local students in the territory? With so many opportunities on offer, suddenly three months doesn’t seem like so long after all.

Zoe Zhao, a first year Accounting and Finance major decided that the last thing she wanted to do this summer was spend her time completing projects for yet another holiday business programme. “That’s why I want to try something totally different and to do some good things for this world,” Zoe says grinning. This motivation saw her sign up for a one month trip to Ghana with student organisation Beyond The Pivot. The trip allows HKU students to get up close and personal with the Ghanaian community though work as a local volunteer. “I want to know as much as possible about this remote and special continent and country,” Zoe says. “Hopefully I can make some local friends.” So is there anything the bubbly business student is not looking forward to? “I am not comfortable about the ‘open-air toilets’ in Africa. After I get rich, I will probably help them build some public toilets,” she says.

After spending the past four and a half years studying French, Venus Weier Tjang has yet to set foot in the beautiful European nation whose mother tongue she has adopted. But this summer the second year Arts student will finally embark on her long-awaited European adventure.

“I’ve travelled alone before for sure, but this is the longest one I’ve ever taken so that’s what’s most exciting about it,” she says. Venus will spend two months travelling around the continent and plans to include a three-week French language course in her trip. “I’m hoping to train my independence and most importantly, my French, because after all that’s what I’m there for!” she says. For this Hong Kong-born student even the lead-up to the big event has been a learning experience. “I think I’ve already learned quite a lot from just all the preparation,” says Venus. “It’s not easy going to Europe during high season so by asking people around, I’ve already learned a lot more about budget travelling.”

Geneva Damayanti, on the other hand, won’t be heading as far afield. For her the challenge lies right here in the city. As part of the Faculty of Social Sciences’ Migrant Outreach Education Initiative (MOEI) programme, Geneva will be spending most of her summer teaching English to disadvantaged secondary school children in Hong Kong. “I hope to experience the process of being a teacher dealing with students,” she says. “And also to learn more about what I am good or bad at, in terms of interpersonal skills and how I face others.” The programme involves running six weeks of interactive English classes following one week of training. “Teaching is a very new thing for me,” Geneva says. “I am honestly very nervous because I don’t know how these kids will behave and whether I can teach them well or not. But I’m sure this will be a great learning experience for me.”

While the destinations and activities may differ; Zoe, Venus and Geneva are committed to using the these few months as a platform from which to challenge themselves and further their experience in a vast range of different fields, whether they be social, academic or personal. Sounds like a pretty good alternative to sitting around all summer, now doesn’t it?

LazySummer Days,

or are they?

Feature

VenusWeierTjang

ZoeZhao

Geneva

Damayanti

Geneva, Zoe & Venus...Lazy Summer Days, or are they?

N032010 / 09 SEP

06

HKULingo Jingo

Nooks & Cranniesin HKU

It is definitely a must for most students of the University of Hong Kong to at least experience being in the most rustic and historic places on campus.

Loke Yew Hall was named after Loke Yew, a Guangdong native, who contributed twice to the university in 1912 to set up an endowment fund, and in 1915, when it was facing bankruptcy. The deep, dark wooden interior sets a grand and sombre tone for the hall and the spaciousness of the area makes it ideally suitable to host the university’s official events.

The hall, together with the university’s Main Building, has bear witness to the history of the Oriental Pearl, surviving the British colonial and the Japanese occupation era.

Despite the cultural and historical value, it is a very well-utilised venue, commonly to hold examinations, ceremonies and other mass events. Hence, most HKU students will have the chance to be at least in there to soak up a part of the school’s past and present.

Loke Yew Hall

Professor Lung Ying-tai’sNew Book Launch & Lecture

Events being held atLoke Yew Hall

The Forth Inaugurationof Endowed Professorships

Fellows and friends of Professor Paul Tam Kwong-hang, HKU Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Chair Professor, Department of Surgery, took turns to be their shavers, including Professor Sum-ping Lee, Dean of HKU LKS Faculty of Medicine.

Professor Godfrey Chan Chi-fung, Professor of Department of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, The University of Hong Kong Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, invited his children cancer patients to shave his head.

Ms Amy Chum, renowned actress, had her head shaved by her family, Professor Paul Tam Kwong-hang and their daughter.

Out of ten bald men, nine are wealthy, goes a Chinese saying. So it is with HKU professors. Wealth is of their heart and mind as they braved a shave in a St. Baldrick’s Day event to raise funds for children battling cancer.

Jointly organized by HKU LKS Faculty of Medicine and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, it is the first-ever St. Baldrick’s head-shaving event held in tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. Kicking off the event was Richard Kligler, the man who brought the foundation to Hong Kong. Being an eight-year “shavee”, Kligler said: “I will not rest until childhood cancer is treated like common cold.”

The air was filled with excitement and the anticipation was at a climax as the three “shavees” geared up to have their heads buzzed clean. The first to lose their locks was Professor Godfrey Chan Chi-fung of the Department of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine. His former patient was the one who made a swipe for him. Following Professor Chan was Professor Paul Tam, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Chair Professor, Department of Surgery. Being his shaver was Professor Sum-ping Lee, Dean of HKU LKS Faculty of Medicine. Professor Tam’s wife Ms Amy Chum, renowned actress and Council Member of Children’s Cancer Foundation also wielded the razor and hogged further limelight as she became beautiful bald. The sum raised, almost HK$800,000 up to this moment, would be designated for supporting childhood cancer research for Children’s Cancer Foundation.

In the event, a former cancer-patient and a child who is battling cancer shared with event participants how they came out of their fight as winners over the illness.

St. Baldrick’s was created by three men who wanted to turn a St. Patrick’s Day celebration into a fundraiser for kids with cancer. They shaved their heads and went bald. Through head shaving events, the shavees can be in solidarity with the children fighting cancer, as in most instances they lose their hair. Since then, events have taken placein 28 countries.

Li Ka ShingFaculty of Medicine’sSt. Baldrick’s Day Event

FacultieSpecial

Professor Godfrey Chan Chi-fung, Professor of Department of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, The University of Hong Kong Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, Professor Paul Tam Kwong-hang, HKU Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Chair Professor, Department of Surgery, HKU LKS Faculty of Medicine, and Ms Amy Chum, renowned actress and wife of Professor Tam, gave up their precious hair to raise funds for children cancer patients.

N032010 / 09 SEP

07

Shaveto save!

N032010 / 09 SEP

08

Spurred by the government’s decision to move to an American-style, four-year bachelor’s program in 2012 – away from the three-year British inherited degree – HKU is in the process of a radical curriculum reform. Gone will be the early traces of specialization, rather all students will be required to take “common core” courses during their first two years regardless of their major. These courses are designed to be provocative, modern and multidisciplinary that covers four main areas: humanities; global issues; Chinese culture, state, and society; and scientific and technological literacy.

In the following academic years, there will be numerous pilot courses introduced by university professors that will greatly expand the core curriculum. The new curriculum also aims to introduce Asian students to learning that deals with more conceptual thinking than rote learning.

The reform however comes with its share of support and rejection. Supporters assert that the revamp will improve teaching and research standards as well as stimulate an interdisciplinary research but some critics think that the breadth of the new core curriculum could produce students whose grasps of specific disciplines would be too shallow to pursue academic research as postgraduates.

Nevertheless, many top universities around the globe have been similarly adopting this new approach. The fundamental factor now would be to achieve the right balance between discipline and expertise.

University of Hong Kong Looks to the West in Curricular Redesign

Various universities around the world have been looking into redesigning their curriculum over the past few years yet many wonder why HKU would need to make such drastic changes to its curriculum despite already being a member of the international elite.

As a global business centre, HKU graduates need to operate in a multicultural, multilingual environment where news skills are constantly needed to adapt to changing tasks and careers. A concern shared regarding many graduates is that they lack the moral and civic values in their undergraduate education. Undergraduate learning should be about the total experience of life on campus than mere academic endeavour.

By 2012, the new curriculum would emphasize on ‘experiential learning’ whereby students are required to go and take part in projects in the workplace. As global citizens, it is essential that students have the hands-on experience in complex real-world problems unattainable in the university vicinity alone. In addition, English will be enforced as the lingua franca for all activities on campus to promote a sense on ‘inclusiveness’ previously considered lacking by many international staff and students.

The reform is a challenge that requires very tedious planning but if successful, will no doubt be a groundbreaking transformation that will set an example for many universities to come.

Extreme Makeover

Guidance Counselor’s Guide to HKU

Hong Kong: Reformschallenge academic standardsDuring its early unveiling to an international audience at the Going Global conference, Hong Kong’s new curriculum reform was described as ‘audacious’ and ‘daring’ by representatives ranging from South Korea and Bangladesh to the Arab States.

The reduction of one year of secondary school will now be an additional year for the new university curriculum. Hong Kong universities are looking to redesign their programmes to increase the study of liberal arts, languages, ethics and philosophy as well as aim to boost overseas experiences for students, including volunteering in developing countries.

The four year undergraduate degree will be more flexible with more combined subjects from inter-faculties.

University World News April 2010, Hong Kong: Reform Challenge Academic Standards http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20100401090619895

The New Academic Structure by the Hong Kong government aims to create citizens ‘better prepared for the 21st century’ by reshaping secondary school and university curricula. In 2012, all eight of the Hong Kong’s universities will switch to four-year degrees. The institutions have characterised the move as a chance to provide more “liberal” courses.

Additionally, the government aims to increase the proportion of ‘non-local’ students to 20 per cent at the undergraduate level.

Responding to globalisation will be a key element of the new curriculum, according to Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning Professor Amy Tsui.

“There will also be a focus on the university’s mission to cultivate ‘moral values and ethics’” she said.

Under the new diploma, each student must study four core subjects - Chinese, English, mathematics and liberal studies. They must also take two or three additional elective subjects, which may include applied learning courses, as well as undergo “other learning experiences”, such as moral and civic education. Students will study a maximum of eight subjects.

Universities will also increase their recruitment of ‘non-local’ students - including those from Mainland China - to meet the government’s 20 per cent target, up from the current level of about 11 per cent.

Hong Kong academy set to take a great leap forward

Times Higher Education April 2010 on British Council’s Going Global Conference in London, HK academy set to take a great leap forward:http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=411116&c=1

Chronicle of Higher Education Jul 2010, Looking to the West in Curricular Designhttp://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Hong-Kong-Looks-to-the/66297/

Times Higher Education Feb 2010, Extreme Makeoverhttp://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=410237&c=1