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No. 34 21 February 2005
 

 

Senior management restructuring
To realize the benefits to the University as Hong Kong prepares to move to a four-year degree structure, Professor H K Chang, President, will be chairing a University-wide Steering Committee on Planning for the Four-Year Normative Degree Structure, with membership to be announced soon. The Steering Committee will examine the full range of issues to ensure that the University is well poised to the enhancement of higher education experience under the new structure, including and not limited to curriculum design and implementation, capital projects, budgetary provision and staffing needs.


Placing the University in the best position to introduce the new degree structure, and at the same time to maintain the University's momentum in enriching undergraduate education and enhancing student learning, a new organization structure for the portfolio of efforts currently shouldered by Professor Edmond Ko, Vice-President for Undergraduate Education and Dean of Students, will take effect from 1 April.


Two deanship positions will be created to head the two lines of separate and yet interlocking areas of work. Professor Richard Ho, currently Professor (Chair) of Finance, will assume the position of Dean of Undergraduate Education. His office will be responsible for academic policies and administration related to undergraduate studies, including the co-ordination of student recruitment and support of quality assurance. Professor Ho will oversee the Admissions Office, the Academic Regulations and Records Office, the English Language Centre, the Chinese Civilisation Centre, the Chinese Language Unit and the Division of Building Science and Technology. Professor Lilian Vrijmoed, currently Professor in the Department of Biology and Chemistry and a two-time winner of Teaching Excellence Award, will assume the position of the Dean of Student Learning. Professor Vrijmoed will oversee Student Development Services (SDS) and the Education Development Office (EDO) which will be reorganized to include among its functions the new role in coordinating the University's e-learning initiative.


In view of the importance of having more international and non-local students on campus for the benefit of local students, the External Liaison and Cooperation Office will undertake, in addition to its current functions, the promotion of the undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes and the recruitment of such students outside of Hong Kong. A new unit, the International and Non-local Students Office, will also be created within the SDS to provide one-stop services to these students after they have been admitted.


Professor Ko, after relinquishing his current portfolio on 31 March, will serve as Special Advisor to the President, while retaining the rank of a Vice-President until 30 June. He will advise the President on matters related to the University's preparation for the four-year degree structure, and other major initiatives.

 

Senior-year admission to Bachelor's degree programmes
Invitation for direct application for admission to 2005 Entry Undergraduate, Taught Postgraduate and Associate Degree programmes started on 14 January; application for admission under the Special Admission Scheme to Bachelor's degree programmes commenced on 7 February.


For 2005 entry, a target of 400 senior-year places in total, including the 210 places allocated to the University by the Government, are open to application.


Associate Degree students who graduate this summer and are interested in pursuing further studies at CityU are welcome to apply through the University's Special Admission Scheme. Students who would like to know more about application procedures may seek the help of the Admissions Office or email asadmit@cityu.edu.hk. Students who need advice on the choice of programmes may seek the help of the respective programme leaders. Professor H K Chang and the University management team are available to hear students' concerns and facilitate their plans for further advancement.


This year, 33 Government-funded programmes are offered under the Special Admissions Scheme. Among the 33 programmes, 14 are in the Faculty of Business, 7 in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, 11 in the Faculty of Science and Engineering and 1 in the School of Creative Media. A new Associate Degree articulation programme on Criminology, proposed by the University and endorsed by the UGC, is on the list. In recognition of applicants' prior studies, credit transfers will be made upon admission. Further information is available at www.cityu.edu.hk/prospectus.

 

Mainland student recruitment
Professor H K Chang received a letter dated 3 February from Mr Zhang Baoqing, Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Education, agreeing to include the eight UGC-funded Hong Kong universities on the list of the first batch of the nation¡¦s foremost higher-education institutions, with effect this year. This decision allows the University to recruit outstanding mainland high-school graduates in 17 provinces and cities through the same procedures and methods used by the mainland's foremost higher-education institutions. The Ministry of Education will provide training, in late March, to personnel involved so they will better understand marketing approaches and admission procedures and methods for recruiting students on the mainland.
In response to the new arrangement, the External Liaison and Cooperation Office, together with various departments and offices, is now preparing to initiate admissions and promotion work on the mainland from March to May.

 

Donation
CityU raised HK$392,660 for UNICEF, between 6 January and 7 February, to provide education kits for tsunami-affected children. The sum collected in the second round of donations (received from 15 January) came to HK$38,130. It will soon be transferred to UNICEF, adding to the HK$354,530 cheque presented on 24 January by Professor Y S Wong, Convenor of the CityU Support Group for South Asian Tsunami Victims, and Mr Douglas Wong, then Acting President of the Students' Union. That amount resulted from the first round of donations, collected from 6 to 14 January
.

 

Senior staff appointment
Dr Emily K C Cheng has been appointed Head of the Admissions Office with effect from 16 February. Dr Cheng has been working in the previous Registrar's Office and then Admissions Office since December 1998.


Kudos
Nominated by Associate Professor Dr Julian Lai, Mr Wong Chi-kin, Kenchi, a graduate of the Department of Applied Social Studies, won the Occupational Safety and Health Best Project Award for the Academic Year 2003-04. Kenchi's award-winning paper "Occupational Stress, Moderators, and Adaptational Outcomes Among Public Bus Drivers in Hong Kong" is his dissertation paper for the Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology.

 

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