Bulletin Spring‧Summer 1991

An Open Letter f rom the Vice-Chancellor The Vice-Chancellor issued his fourth open letter to all staff and students of the University on 6th February 1991. In his letter, he emphasized the need to decentralize the University's decision-making process to better cope with its rapid expansion and the growing complexity of its organization. Here is the full text of the letter: May I wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year. I trust that the Year of the Ram will bode well for Hong Kong and for The Chinese University of Hong Kong. As you all know, within the next four years, we shall expand by over 40 per cent to become a much larger university of 11,500 students. In anticipation of the rapid expansion of the University and the growing complexity of its organization, I am particularly conscious of the need to decentralize the decision-making process. The objectives are: 1. to eliminate possible bottlenecks and to shorten the decision-making process in administrative actions, 2. to avoid unnecessary administrative restrictions on creative academic initiatives, and 3. to permit academic units to pursue excellence by giving each unit the needed authority to take on the respective responsibilities. It may not be obvious to you that the University has been quite decentralized in its operational methods and procedures, even though many support services are provided centrally. The present decentralization exercise is aimed at delegating more decision-making responsibilities outwards to the faculties and departments. However, no drastic changes to the existing system of operation are envisaged or required. Over the past few months, I have held extensive consultations on decentralization with the deans, department chairmen, and over 60 youthful members of the academic staff. Recently, the pro-vice- chancellors, the registrar, the secretary and the bursar of the University held several meetings with the deans to examine implementation details. I am now in a position to let you know the up-to-date situation. It is apparent that some of our administrative procedures and support services will continue to be handled by central units to take advantage of economy of scale and operational efficiency. For decentralizing the decision-making process, a phased approach is preferred to avoid unnecessary anxiety and disruption while attaining the same results, albeit over perhaps a somewhat longer period of time. The Medical Faculty will move a bit faster since their present status with an indicated grant and their unique structure will allow them to operate more independently. Faculty deans and department chairmen will be held accountable fo r decisions made and actions taken at the faculty and department levels respectively in relation to the decentralized functions. Central administrative units headed by the bursar, the registrar, and the secretary will provide specific service support NEWS 18