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• From the Editors
• Group on AD programmes to publish draft report
• Role differentiation
• Search for Deputy President
• MB to takle budget constraints
• Ranking
• Kudos
• Concurrent/Acting appointments
• Arrivals

From the Editors
Bulletin, a biweekly brief to be published on every first and third Mondays of the month, aims to provide staff and students the latest campus news in an easy-to-read format. Comments and ideas are welcome (puo@cityu.edu.hk).

Group on AD programmes to publish draft report

• AD programmes provide value to society; their future provision must operate on a self-financing basis;

• The University has considered reducing the direct costs if such programmes are offered off-campus;

• Staff costs would need to be substantially reduced to make future programmes competitive;

• Eventually, future self-financing AD programmes should be relocated to a new site off-campus; the University has expressed interest to the government in bidding on a piece of land;

• The future College should establish an independent Academic Board, subscribing to the University Senate's requirement for quality assurance of academic programmes;

• A range of programmes, including pre-AD and other top-up courses, must be offered in the future Community College to expand income potential.

Remaining issues that need to be further discussed relate mostly to transitional arrangements up to 2008:

• Salary and benefits: the magnitude of cuts in total remuneration package and whether existing College staff should be transferred to contract terms and, if so, the details in the proposed redundacy package;

• Campus arrangement: whether AD programmes should be offered entirely off-campus before 2008.

The Working Group was set up in June to study the financial viability of self-financing AD programmes. Apart from Mr Chung, members are: Ms Marina Wong, Mr Edward Cheng, Council members, Dr Jerry Yu, CIO, Prof Leung Kwok, MGT, Dr Ko Sai-hong, Acting Hd/CM and Ms Wanda Lau, Acting Hd/LS.

The Group's progress reports can be read at www.cityu.edu.hkcityutoday/ad/home.htm

Role differentiation

A UGC Working Group on role differentiation, led by Oxford University's Vice-chancellor, Sir Colin Lucas, will soon be on campus for a familiarization visit. The University, in preparation for the visit, will have to perform a self-evaluation on how it sees its role in the higher education sector. The self-review will carry out a comparative advantage analysis and look into possible niche subject areas in the next five years. Faculties have been invited to contribute to this process.

The Group, together with two others on, respectively, performance and role-related funding, and academic development proposals, is part of a move forward by the UGC in implementing the Higher Education Review last year.

Search for Deputy President

The Council will hold a special meeting soon to decide on the appointment of the Deputy President. After an international search, the Search Committee for Deputy President, a Council group, whittled down its recommendation to one candidate in early October. The Council initiated the search process in December 2002.

MB to tackle budget constraints

Prof David Tong, VP (AA) headed a core group to look into ways to update the University's staffing policies in times of dwindling resources. Other group members include Prof Y S Wong VP (AD), and Prof Roderick Wong (Dean/FSE).

In formulating these policies, the core group will give academic needs and interests strategic emphasis, in order to maintain and strengthen the University's reputation. It will consider the effectiveness of these policies in easing long-term financial difficulties and impact on the terms and conditions of service of serving staff. Also on the agenda is the implication of funding withdrawal for Associate Degree programmes on the University's administrative and support services. Extensive staff consultation on these policies will be conducted.

Ranking

The University recently has been ranked seventh in the top 10 universities in the Greater China region, and 332 in the world's top 500, in a study by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. CityU received another ranking—seventh among the eight local UGC-funded institutions, in a study by the Hong Kong Economic Journal Monthly (Oct. 2003).

Concurrent/Acting appointments (until further notice)

• Prof (Chair) Eden Yu, Head of EF, Acting Librarian
• Ms Kathy Chan, Acting Director, AEO and DAO

Arrivals (up to 25 September)

• Dr Francis Lee Lap Fung, Assistant Professor, EN
• Dr Henry Gao Shuchao, Lecturer, SLW
• Dr Duncan Wong Shek, Assistant Professor, CS
• Dr Tao Yufei, Assistant Professor, CS