Message from Council Chairman

It is with great honour and profound satisfaction that I pen my last chairman’s message, knowing that as I step down from the OUHK Council I am leaving behind a great team of people who would further our education mission on a solid foundation. During my 13 years on the Council, together with my fellow Council Members, the University management, teachers, students, and alumni, we have achieved a great deal.

As I take stock of these momentous years, I cannot stop marvelling at how much we have achieved operating on a self-financing model without any government recurrent subsidy. Our donors and supporters alike share a sense of wonder how we manage to educate our students at about a fraction of the cost of educating a student at Government-funded universities, and yet our graduates are held in high regards by employees for being on a par with graduates from other leading universities in Hong Kong.

Back in 2003, my first year on the Council, we were at the early stage of embarking on our full-time programmes, with a modest intake of only 300 full-time students. Slightly more than a decade apart, we now educate 9,000 full-time students face-to-face on campus, on top of 10,000 distant learners who continue to confide in the learning mode that we have been pioneering since our earliest days. The opportunities we create change lives. This mission would not have been accomplished without the visionary leadership of many of our past and current Council members as well as the dedicated service of faculty and staff. I owe them my sincere thanks.

To cope with the increasing demand of space from rapid growth of student population, it is heartening to witness the physical expansion of the University, starting with the Phase II extension to the main campus at Ho Man Tin completed in 2008. A key milestone was reached in 2013 as we moved LiPACE from Sheung Wan to the more spacious Kwai Hing Learning Centre. In 2014, we reached another major milestone with the opening of the Jubilee College at Jockey Club Campus to train professionals in cultural and creative arts, testing and certification, and healthcare services. Currently, yet another campus development project is underway at Sheung Shing Street as we look forward to training up more healthcare professionals to meet the need of the community.

While we toast our successes, at the OUHK we are well aware of the challenges ahead before they take shape When the demographic shift of our society predicts a long winter for self-financing tertiary institutions, we are taking proactive steps to diversify our sources of revenue and develop market-driven academic programmes that meet our community’s needs. We steadfastly adhere to financial prudence to minimize costs and maximize efficiency without compromising our quality of teaching and facilities.

As I hand over the chairmanship to my successor Mr Michael Wong, I do so with the fullest confidence and abundant goodwill. I know that many in the community share our educational ideal and would continue to give us generous support. Michael’s eight years on the Council equips him with a holistic understanding of our unique institutional ethos.

Our lofty mission of Education for All is still a work in progress. It will forever be. But our continued progress is in good hands.

Dr Eddy C Fong
Chairman of the Council
June 2016