Bulletin Special Supplement Bidding Farewell to Prof. and Mrs. Charles K. Kao

Over the last nine years, unde r Prof. Kao's able leadership, The Chinese U niversity has im p ro v e d and expanded in a ll d irections. T w o n ew faculties — educa tion and engineering — have been set up, and together w ith five o the r faculties, they p ro v ide a w id e range o f undergraduate and postgraduate courses that have been designed to meet the changing social needs. Seven n ew research institutes have been established or reconstituted to p rom ote inte rd iscip lina ry research, internally and int er -institutionally. A t the same time, Un ive rsity adm in istra tion has been overhauled and reorganized. More a u th o rity as w e ll as re s p o n s ib ility has been decen tra lized to the faculties and departments ； one -line budget procedures w h ic h emphasize accountability and qua lity assurance have also been introduced . We can say the goals that Prof. Kao set fo r h im se lf and the U n ive rsity have been accom p lished one a fter the other. The substantial progress made in the University's overall developm ent and in im p ro v ing its academic standing loca lly and interna tiona lly is largely due to Prof. Kao. I w o u ld like to quote some figures to illustrate the significant co n trib u tio n s tha t Prof. Kao has made to make this u n iv e rs ity the best am ong loca l tertiary institutions: (i) CU p ro v id e s the largest n um b e r o f stu d e n t ho s te l places — 3,982, w h ile the second largest n um be r is 2,582. (ii) Last year, CU had the largest n um b e r o f JUPAS applicants (9,457) choosing it as th e ir firs t cho ice , w h ic h rep resented o n e -th ird o f a ll the app lican ts, w h ile the second largest n um be r was 6,058. (iii) O u t o f 27 research projects rated as excellent b y the Research Grants Council, 12 are CU projects. No other tertiary institution has produced more than seven 'excellent' research projects. (iv ) In 1995-96, 15 CU graduates w ere recruited as adm inistrative officers b y the Hong Kong Gove rnm en t o u t o f a batch o f 26 loca l graduates recruited that year. O u r vice-chancellor is also a low -p ro file gentleman im bued w ith classical Confucian virtues. Lao Zi said in Da o De Jing that 'the highest virtue is lik e the valley' and 'ample virtue seems defective'. These are apt descriptions o f Prof. Kao. And because o f these qualities he has been able to w in friends from all quarters and muster support from all sides ， and lead the University to its present success. In the years to come, Prof. Kao has set an even higher goal fo r himself, and that is to establish a firm e r and stronger base fo r the techno log ica l d e ve lopm en t o f H o n g K ong and China, and the p rom o tio n o f technological transfer. I am sure Prof. Kao w ill con tinue to con tribu te his expertise to this un ive rsity , to H ong Kong, to China ， and to th e Asia-Pacific region. I lo o k fo rw a rd to frequen t reunions w ith Prof, and Mrs. Kao on the ir visits to H ong Kong. To conclude, m ay I on b e h a lf o f the Council and staff members o f the U niversity express ou r sincere thanks to Prof, and Mrs. Kao, and w ish them good health and all the best. □ 利國偉爵士演辭 AdresbySirQuo -weiLe 21