Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 2004

e n r i c hme nt to o u r H o n g K o n g s t uden t s, w h o w o u l d be m u c h better prepared to enter i n to the c i t y ' s i n t e r n a t i o n al b u s i n e s s, technological and cultural life. The second thing Prof. Lau wants to see happen is a significant expansion of the University's exchange and study abroad programmes. Even a brief period of overseas study can b r o a d en a student's h o r i z o ns i n ways that can be life-transforming. Central to Prof. Lau's vision are research and scholarship, wh i ch are at the heart of a great university of international standing. Here too his ambitions for this university are high. In recent years, the Chinese University has become the premier research institution i n Ho ng Kong measured in terms of externally- funded research income and research output. For Prof. Lau, this leadership has to be consolidated and to grow, not least because, as he knows from his own experience, a great international teaching university has to be a great research university. Du r i ng his o wn career, Prof. Lau has been recognized for his distinguished research by ma ny bodies of higher learning. He is an elected member of Phi Beta Kappa, a member of Tau Beta Pi, a Fellow of the Econometric Society, and an Academician of Academia Sinica. He has been a m e m b er of the Conference for Research i n Income and Wealth, an Overseas Fellow at Ch u r c h i ll College, Cambridge, an honorary member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and an Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences. He has been awarded an honorary doctorate of social sciences by the H o n g K o ng University of Science and Technology. He has been a John S i mon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow and a Fellow of the Center for Ad v a n c ed Study i n the Behavioural Sciences. Prof. L au is active i n ma n y n a t i o n al academic and professional bodies. He is an hono r a ry research fellow of the Shanghai A c a d emy of Social Sciences; an hono r a ry p r o f e s s or of t he I n s t i t u te of Sy s t ems Science, Chinese Ac a d emy of Sciences; an h o n o r a r y p r o f e s s or of J i l i n, N a n j i n g, Tsinghua, and Shantou universities, the P e o p l e 's U n i v e r s i t y a n d S o u t h e a st University. He is an international adviser to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics and a member of the Board of Directors of the C h i a ng C h i n g - K uo F o u n d a t i on f or International Scholarly Exchange i n Taipei. Ov er a century ago a f amous B r i t i sh statesman (Benjamin Disraeli) said: ‘ Upon the education of the people of this country the fate of this country depends.' If anything, this statement is even more relevant today to the future of the people of this Special A dm i n i s t r a t i ve Reg i on — a c ommu n i ty whose only resources are intelligence, hard wo r k, and ingenuity. Prof. Lau's vision is to h e l p b u i l d t hat f u t u re b y m a k i n g The Chinese University of Ho ng Ko ng one of the leading seats of learning i n Asia, b o th i n r e s e a r ch a n d i n e d u c a t i on across a comprehensive range of disciplines. It is an important vision for Ho ng Kong, China, and the region as a whole. The whole University c ommu n i ty — teachers, admi n i s t r a t o r s, students, and alumni alike — looks forward w i t h great confidence and expectation to its f i f th decade under the leadership of Prof. Lawrence J. Lau. It is n ow our privilege to witness his installation as Vice-Chancellor of The Chinese University of Ho ng Kong. by Prof. David Parker At the heart of Prof. Lau's vision for the future is internationalization, what he calls ' e d u c a t i on without borders'.…He would like to see ours as a truly multinational and multicultural campus with eventually 20 or 25 per cent of the student body coming from outside Hong Kong.…The second thing Prof. Lau wants to see happen is a significant expansion of the University's exchange and study abroad programmes. Even a brief period of overseas study can broaden a student's horizons in ways that can be life-transforming. Chinese University Bulletin Autumn • Winter 2004 14