At the heart of the OUHK spirit is the urge to strive and to achieve. This year saw countless examples of achievement coming to fruition— at overall institutional level, and also at the level of individual departments, teachers, researchers and students. This chapter highlights a few of the best, as witness to the constant and high quality outpouring of endeavour that characterizes the University.

Top marks in Institutional Review

Across the year and right up to July 2020, the University underwent a sexennial Institutional Review carried out by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ). This important review assessed all aspects of the University’s teaching and learning practices, offering an external objective view of the success of its efforts to deliver high quality education. In total, over 100 staff, students and alumni participated in the review, along with a few Council members. Apart from asserting the strength of the OUHK’s systems to assure the quality of its teaching and the academic value of its qualifications, the review commended the University on six different levels related to its work in enhancing students’ learning experiences and staff performance.

Those commendations started with a recognition of the University’s responsiveness to stakeholder feedback, especially focusing on the way it has listened to its students’ requests and proactively moved on them. The review identified a robust OUHK system for collecting and following up feedback from both external advisors and students and graduates. Perhaps more importantly, it also noted many examples of the OUHK acting on stakeholder feedback to improve programme quality and student learning experience.

The review also commended the OUHK’s implementation of its Quality Enhancement Measures (QEM). The QEM is a scheme launched in 2017 designed to incentivize the University’s Schools and Units by providing a generous fund in support of a range of quality initiatives (full details can be found in Chapter 4 of this Review). HKCAAVQ noted the University’s ‘prolonged commitment’ to the scheme, and recognized its overall success in driving quality forward. Many examples of QEM-driven enhancements were identified, including new artificial intelligence, virtual reality and language learning facilities, a rise in research initiatives and research staff, and co-curricular activities such as service-learning, entrepreneurship and exchange programmes.

Another big success singled out by the Review Panel was the work of the OUHK’s Student Affairs Office (SAO). The SAO is a dedicated unit set up to support students’ academic, social and career development, and the review was especially impressed by how quickly this relatively new office had got to work to deliver across-the-board initiatives that brought benefits to all students. Its work in developing comprehensive internship programmes, building career preparation programmes, promoting moral education through sports, supporting the University’s expanding mainland student body, collaborating with the OUHK’s Schools, and locating funding support from outside institutions, were all highlighted by the review.

On a larger scale, the OUHK was commended for its broad and flexible system providing essential pastoral care to its students, with plenty of personal one-on-one support for anyone who needs it. The Review Panel saw this as being a major component of a University-wide ‘caring culture’, providing an important sense of security and support for every student.

The University’s focus on quality was also noted as impacting directly on staff teaching experience. For example, HKCAAVQ commended the University’s new Pay and Reward System, set up to encourage a performance culture among staff. Developed through careful consultation with stakeholders, the new system has been widely welcomed and supported by staff as a means of both enhancing teaching quality and offering incentives to self-development.

Finally, the Review Panel singled out the OUHK’s commitment to its part-time teachers, who make up a significant proportion of its overall teaching resources. Understanding that the quality of teaching by every single staff member makes a difference, the OUHK has expended considerable resources in supporting part-time staff and making them essential and much valued parts of its teaching team.

Schools, Units and staff setting the standard

Various OUHK Schools and Units also garnered valuable recognitions. The School of Nursing and Health Studies won an award at EduTECH Asia 2019 for a project promoting inclusiveness using 3D imaging and VR-based educational technology, while another project on using a student response system in nursing lectures was shortlisted for the Best Use of Classroom Technology Award. Elsewhere, the OUHK Creative Writing Programme, run by the School of Arts and Social Sciences, was ranked a respectable 11th in a Ranking of Creative Writing Professionalism among Higher Education Institutes in China released by Northwest University in Xi’an. Meanwhile, LiPACE scooped the Investor and Financial Education Council’s Financial Education Champion Award for the second year in a row, in recognition of its packed programme of financial education initiatives targeting all segments of society. Mercomm Inc. has a stable of internationally recognized annual awards for quality in the fields of corporate communications, and the OUHK continued to achieve notable successes across these. In the last few rounds of Mercomm awards, it achieved recognition for its anniversary video, Annual Review, Corporate Brochure, and Anniversary Book.

On an individual level, two OUHK academics won awards for the exceptional quality of their presentations at their respective international conferences. One was Dr Karen Liu Shuwen of the School of Arts and Social Sciences, whose paper on the role of tourism in alleviating poverty won the Best Overall Presentation Award at the 6th International Conference on Poverty and Sustainable Development in December 2019. The other was Dr Ray Hui Tak-yin of the Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, winner of Best Presentation Award in the ‘Educational Theory and Knowledge Management’ session of the 2020 6th International Conference on Knowledge Engineering. His winning paper explored the relationship between coaching styles and individual knowledge creation.

Scholarships galore for OUHK students

OUHK students won a record number of scholarships under the Government’s Self-financing Post-secondary Scholarship Scheme (SPSS) in both the 2018/19 and 2019/20 rounds of the scheme. In the 2018/19 round, 834 OUHK students claimed scholarships totalling over HK$13 million, with both the number of awardees and the total amount awarded representing OUHK records. But both records were broken in the 2019/20 round of the scheme, when 860 students received awards of a total value of over HK$14 million. Particularly pleasing in the 2019/20 round was the large number of students who gained financing under the prestigious Outstanding Performance Scholarship— 180 in total. This group of scholarship recipients, together with the 475 recipients of the Reaching Out Award, reflects the genuine and outstanding quality of the best OUHK students.

Arts adventures bear fruit

The OUHK’s impressive tradition of achievement in film and animation was sustained in the year by some fine new work. The short animated film Amaryllis, created by five creative arts students of the Animation and Visual Effects programme (Ng Wing-kiu, Wong Ying-kwan, Ho Sau-man, Leung Yat-ho and Lam Fai), won the Netizen’s Choice award in the online film category in the Bucheon International Animation Festival 2019. That achievement was quickly followed up by receipt of a Special Mention Award in the animation category at the 25th ifva Awards. From the same creative arts programme, another group of three students produced an original animation, Phone, that won the first runner-up award and a Best Editing award in RTHK’s Filming Hong Kong Short Film Competition 2019.

In the field of graphic design, a team of four from the Creative Advertising and Media Design programme impressed judges in the 2019 HK4As Student Awards, taking away a bronze award for their inspired advertising campaign ‘Abstain from Meat’. A second team designed an impressive print campaign on the theme ‘Plant Meat’, winning the Best Craft of Art award for their efforts. Later, at the Environmental Design Competition 2019— The Green Sense, organized by the Graphic Arts Association of Hong Kong, a student of Cinematic Design and Photographic Digital Art not only won in the 3D design category for her clever transformation of a poster into a box for packaging, but also took home the Judges Award and Environmental Award from the same competition. Meanwhile, in the field of traditional arts, OUHK alumnus Edgar Ng Lap-hei pushed his achievements beyond the University. He won the Award for Young Artist in the Xiqu category in the 14th Hong Kong Arts Development Awards, representing a major step forward in the graduate’s passion for working in Cantonese opera.

Making words take wing

A number of talented creative writers from the OUHK saw their work recognized on the larger stage this year. At the prestigious 7th Global Youth Chinese Literary Award, organized by the Faculty of Arts of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, one OUHK student took away the Excellence Award (Second Class) in the fiction section, for a compelling set of stories on life in Sheung Shui based on her own experience. Another young OUHK writer produced a graduation project for his Creative Writing and Film Arts programme that was published in the literary journal Special Zone Literature. Elsewhere, a student in the English Language Studies programme scooped second place in the University category at the 21st Century Cup: National English Speaking Competition 2020 organized by China Daily, speaking eloquently on the topic ‘What Global Citizenship Means to Me’. Another English Language Teaching and Studies student won the Gold Award in the 7th Hong Kong Outstanding Prospective Teachers Award, jointly organized by the Hong Kong Prospective Teachers Association and the Hong Kong New Generation Cultural Association.

Student science excellence

OUHK science students showed they have what it takes to generate meaningful research. In the Inter-institutional Competition on Facility Management Project Presentation 2019 organized by the International Facility Management Association Hong Kong Chapter, an OUHK student took home the Silver Prize for his project ‘Effective Management System for the Collection of Recyclables’. Meanwhile, a graduate trio from the Computing programme took second place in the IEEE (HK) Computational Intelligence Chapter FYP Competition 2018/2019, for their paper on an ‘Intelligent Traffic Light System for Hong Kong Traffic Network’. Another student, studying for an MPhil in the School of Science and Technology, won the Best Paper Award at the 2020 IEEE Symposium on Computer Applications & Industrial Electronics for work in the similar field of Short Term Traffic Flow Prediction.

Up-and-coming innovators and entrepreneurs

Many OUHK students won recognition for their innovative ingenuity across the year. In both the 5th and 6th editions of the Hong Kong University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, held in 2019 and 2020 respectively, students from the School of Science and Technology and the Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration excelled. In the 5th edition, two fresh graduates took away Merit Awards. A year later, in the 6th edition, three teams of students bagged awards, one a Second Prize in the Entrepreneurship Proposal category, one a Merit Award in Social Enterprise/Culture and Creative Services, and another a Merit Award in Maths and Physics/Mechanics and Control Systems. Elsewhere, in the Social Innovation Inventor— Competition for Innovative Design 2019 organized by the World Green Organization, several LiPACE students achieved successes, with one student taking out the Championship in the Secondary School/Yi Jin Group and another five winning merit awards in the Tertiary Education Group.

Business leaders in the making

OUHK business students continued to demonstrate the skills and commitment that have become hallmarks of the University’s business education. One exceptional BBA in international business student came away with the Best Presentation Award in the Corporate Governance Paper Competition and Presentation Awards 2019, organized by the Hong Kong Institute of Chartered Secretaries. A team of Year 3 professional accounting students competed in the Tax Debate Competition 2019 organized by the Taxation Institute of Hong Kong, speaking skilfully on various tax-related topics and eventually debating their way to third place in the competition. In 2020, another professional accounting student joined the Spring Internship programme of BDO, one of the largest CPA firms in Hong Kong, and made the experience count by emerging as champion in the 2020 Best Intern Scholarship Contest. In the Human Capital Management Society Scholarship Presentation Seminar 2019/20, a competition presented by the Hong Kong Management Association, a Year 4 business management student emerged as first runner-up. Alumni of the Business School also brought home several awards in the ACCA examinations in December 2019 and June 2020, including a Top Score Award in the Audit and Assurance Paper, two Top Affiliate Awards and one Outstanding Conditional Exemption (CE) Award.

Climbing to the top via sports

One of Hong Kong’s great traditions is the Bun Tower Climb each year on Cheung Chau, when honed athletes scramble to the top of the Bun Tower at the stroke of midnight for the prized title of King or Queen of the Buns. Remarkably, the Queen of the Buns in 2019 was also a nursing student at the OUHK— Janet Kung Tsz-shan. It is a title she has added to an impressive array of other achievements in sports, including ice climbing, sport climbing and orienteering. However, Janet is just one of many OUHK students who are building the University’s reputation in sports. In the 2019 Sports Invitation Games organized by the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, a number of OUHK sports teams took part in competition with teams from eight other institutions. Excellent results were achieved by all participants, especially in basketball and volleyball where OUHK teams clinched champions and second runners-up medals respectively; and in badminton, where two students took out champion and second runner-up places in the men’s singles and then combined in the men’s doubles to win first runners-up position. In September 2019, the Tin Ka Ping Sports Cup brought eight skilled basketball teams to the OUHK to compete in the collegiate 3-on-3 basketball invitational, in which the OUHK team won the Sportsmanship Award.