Annual Report 1994-95

4 校長報告 Vice-Chancellor's Review d e v e l o pme n ts i n their discipline, g o o d research is also mandatory. We have f o r m e d a t a sk f o r ce to t a ke t h e n e c e s s a ry steps t o h e i g h t e n a w a r e n e ss o f o u r t e a c h i ng responsibilities, to p r o v i de tools a nd training to raise the standard of teaching, to devise mechanisms to r ewa rd excellence i n teaching, a nd to assure teaching quality t h r o u gh a tight audit process. A l l these activities we re started i n 1994-95. The external impetus for excellence i n teaching a nd learning was p r o v i d ed b y the UGC. T he UGC has chosen CUHK as one of the first universities to be audited to ensure that mechanisms for p r omo t i ng a nd i mp r o v i ng teaching a nd learning quality are i n place a n d f u n c t i o n i ng as they should. T he UGC also a d d ed incentives t h r o u gh the p r o v i s i on o f extra f u n d i ng for p r o g r ammes that a i med at i mp r o v i ng teaching. Further f u n d i ng is to be d i s t r i b u t ed o n a competitive basis i n the f o r m o f teaching d e v e l o pme nt grants. This was a t i me ly measure w e l c o m ed b y all. T he University has s c h e d u l ed a n internal a u d it ahead of the UGC exercise. It w i l l serve to b r i ng to the fore the i mp o r t a n ce of teaching excellence to all concerned, as w e l l as ensure that existing me c h a n i sms for assuring teaching excellence w i l l be p r o p e r ly r e v i ewed to detect possible deficiencies i n design a n d i mp l eme n t a t i o n. N ew F u n d i ng M o d e l G o i n g h a n d - i n - h a n d w i t h a l l t h e s e w a s t h e f i n a l p r e p a r a t i o n f o r t h e i mp l eme n t a t i on of a n e w f u n d i ng m o d e l — a n e w resource p l a n n i ng system w h i c h ma r ks the b e g i n n i ng of a n e w ma n a g eme nt culture i n the University. T he n e w f u n d i ng m o d e l has t w o major features. First, it links resource allocation to the p e r f o r ma n ce o f d e p a r t me n ts a n d faculties, t h e r e by generating incentive a nd pressure for t h em to be mo r e performance-conscious. Secondly, it decentralizes resource d e c i s i o n - ma k i ng b y allocating funds via one-line-budgets, g i v i ng the b u d g et h o l d er f u ll a u t h o r i ty a n d the responsibility that comes w i t h it to use resources. M u c h g r o u n d w o rk was laid b y the Wo r k i ng Party o n I mp l eme n t a t i on of the N e w F u n d i n g M o d e l d u r i ng the year, a n d after a series o f c o n s u l t a t i o ns a n d w o r k s h o p sessions, the b u d g et p l a n n i ng stage was f u l ly c omp l e t e d. S p e n d i ng u n d er the n e w m o d e l w i l l f o r m a l ly b e g i n i n 1995-96. Th is is a ma j or step i n f o r g i ng a h e ad w i t h decentralization, a process w h i c h began a f ew years ago a n d w i l l be i n f u ll s w i ng n e xt year. I n s t i t u t i o n al Mo r a l e T h e t h i rd issue that was g i v en m u c h attention is mo r a le at the institutional a n d i n d i v i d u al levels. T he i mp e n d i ng political transition i n H o n g K o n g has a progressively greater effect o n mo r a le as 1997 d r aws near. I h a ve s e i z ed m a n y o p p o r t u n i t i es to emphasize the importance of academic f r e e d om to H o n g K o n g i n general a nd to CUHK i n p a r t i c u l a r. I f H o n g K o n g is to m a i n t a in its e f f e c t i v e n e ss i n s e r v i ng t he w o r l d c o mm u n i ty a n d Ch i na specifically, H o n g Ko n g 's e d u c a t i o n al system s h o u ld a i m at n u r t u r i ng a n e w g e n e r a t i on o f p e o p le w i t h m i n ds o p e n to l e a r n i ng a n d to g l o b al t h i n k i n g. O u r m u l t i - c u l t u r al a p p r o a ch w i t h a s p e c i al b i - c u l t u r al emp h a s is is a n indispensable key. To h e lp c o n t i n ue the prosperity of H o n g K o n g a nd maintain stability, a judicially