Bulletin Spring‧Summer 1996

CONSORTIUM FOUNDED TO PROMOTE ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICES I N HONG KONG To encourage the development of electronic information services in Hong Kong , the University took the initiative to set up an Electronic News Media and Publishing Consortium (ENMPC) in October 1995. Sponsored by the Industry Department, this non-profit-making consortium serves as a platform for the local news media and publishing industry to test electronic information delivery , retrieval and library services. It also provides a forum for the discussion of technical, cultural and social issues pertaining to the development of electronic information services. Among its founding members are prominent local news organizations. A l l Hong Kong-registered organizations and institutions can j o i n ENMPC as f u ll members while those not registered in Hong Kong can j o i n as associate members. A l l hardware and software platforms of ENMPC are maintained by the University's Department of Information Engineering. HK$4.9 MILLION FOR CU PRESS TO DEVELOP TEACHING KITS The Chinese University Press recently won two contracts worth a total of HK$4.9 million to design and produce teaching kits for local primary schools. China Light and Hong Kong Electric have invited The Press to produce materials on environmental protection and energy conservation to be used fo r teaching general studies to pupils from primary four to six. Prof. Teresa Siu, associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, will design the instructional strategies i n collaboration with her counterpart from the Hong Kong Education Department, while The Chinese Universit y Press w i l l design and produce video programmes, audio programmes, and simulation games. The target completion date is September 1996. SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTANCY LAUNCHED NEW INITIATIVES Visit to Beijing and Shanghai Thirty-two students and four lecturers from the School of Accountancy undertook a study tour to Beijing and Shanghai from 28th December 1995 to 5th January 1996. In Beijing they visited the Renmin University of China, Tsinghua University, Capital Steel Company, and the Bank of China where they were briefed on banking reforms in the country. In Shanghai they attended seminars on China's accounting reform and development arranged by the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. They also visited the city's stock exchange and the Pudong economic development zones. During the trip, the teachers discussed accounting and tax law issues with experts of the Commission on Legislative Affairs of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. They also explored possibilities of academic exchange and collaboration wit h their counterparts from the universities they visited. The tour was made possible by the assistance and sponsorship from the New China News Agency (Hong Kong Branch), Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, and Sun Life of Canada. Formation of CU Accounting Link The School of Accountancy recently set up the CU Accounting Link to foster the school's interaction with its alumni, as well as with other members in the accounting profession and supporters in the business field . Potential members of the Link include approximately 2,000 accounting graduates, some 200 holders of the diploma in accounting for managers , non- accounting graduates of the University currently working in the field of accounting, forme r staff of the school, and friends from the industry and the accounting profession. It is hoped that through this network, members w i ll be regularly informed of the developments in accounting education at the University and in Hong Kong. They will also have a new channel through which to advise and support the school. 48