Annual Report 2019–20

大學校董會報告 Report of the Council 53 The year under review was a particularly challenging year for the University. The social unrest in Hong Kong in the latter half of 2019, combined with the COVID-19 pandemic since January 2020, has posed major and direct challenges to the well-being, safety and operation of the entire University. The senior management has spent much time and effort on crisis management, but also seized some unique opportunities to enable future growth and developments. The University campus was seriously damaged during the social unrest and the campus was closed for a week. A Campus Recovery Task Force was set up immediately in the aftermath to handle multiple issues. The University had appointed an independent accredited laboratory to collect air, water and soil samples at various locations and at different times on campus to conduct testing, and the results had indicated that the dioxins levels in the samples were well below internationally accepted standard or not significant. The University has exercised due diligence to ensure that its learning and working environment was safe and ready for full operations in January 2020. Unfortunately, events seemed to have conspired against us. Due to the unprecedented impact caused by COVID-19, an Emergency Response Group (ERG) was established in January 2020 to direct and coordinate the University’s efforts to tackle the threat of the pandemic. The decision-making process and measures undertaken by the University had been prudently guided by the principles of guarding the safety and well-being of the entire CUHK community, while minimizing the disruption of the University’s education and research activities in ways that were appropriate under the circumstances. The University had started full-scale e-learning in February 2020, which had been generally well-received by students, and extra learning support had been provided to non-local students, students with special education needs and students with financial needs, whilst counselling service had been made available via phone, e-mails and face-to-face communication. To help reduce the risk of 未來發展及展望 Future Development and Prospects 2019至20年對大學而言是困難重重的 一年。2019年下半年的社會事件，以及 2020年1月至今的新冠肺炎疫症，為大 學的利益、安全、運作等帶來重大的挑 戰。大學高級管理層花費了不少時間和 心力於危機管理，但亦掌握獨一無二的 機遇以成就未來的成長和發展。 大學校園在社會事件受嚴重損毁，以致 校園關閉一星期。校方事後成立「校園 復原專責小組」善後。大學委任獨立認 可實驗室，在校園不同地點及時間搜集 空氣、水和泥土樣本作測試，結果顯示樣 本二噁英含量皆低於國際接受標準或不 顯著。大學盡力確保其學和工作環境安 全，並可於2020年1月全面恢復運作。可 是，這過程遇到不少障礙。 中大因應新冠肺炎來襲，成立了緊急應 變小組，以帶領及統籌大學應對新冠肺 炎的工作。大學以保障中大社群的安全 和利益為原則制訂策略，並盡量減少對 大學教研活動的影響。 大學於2020年2月開展全面網上教學， 學生反應良好；大學也為非本地學生， 有特殊教育需要學生，以及財政困難學 生提供額外教學支援。學生可藉電話、 電郵、面對面接觸得到輔導服務。為減 少新冠肺炎傳播，大學採取在家工作安 排，部門及單位只提供有限度服務。大 學成立了中大支援基金，幫助受新冠肺 炎嚴重影響的員生：共有三百名畢業生 獲得就業機會，而基層員工也得到無息 緊急貸款。