Prof. Joseph J.Y. Sung Vice-Chancellor of CUHK (2010–2017)

32 中文大學校刊 Chinese University Bulletin | 特刊 Special Supplement 懇談 H earty Talk From time to time, you quote Harry Lewis to remind the University not to forget its prime mission. So has CUHK gone astray in the past few years? In his book Excellence Without a Soul , Harry Lewis mentions how top universities like Harvard have been driven by market values to divert their focus from education, as reflected in the admission criteria, programme offers, marketing approach and grade inflation. Within the context of higher education globalization, many external factors such as international rankings, competitive research funding schemes, etc., do have great bearing on a university’s direction. The same applies to Hong Kong. It is gratifying to see that CUHK has been holding on to its core values and objectives, without abandoning its precious traditions. To the contrary, we build on the past and pace ourselves steadily for excellence. Our implementation of general education has been widely recognized and accoladed locally and internationally. Our college system has strengthened, with the number of Colleges increased from four to nine, each unique in its own way. Shortly after you assumed office, you’ve made it clear that a university shouldn’t be driven by rankings. Do you still hold to this? Yes, I do. There are numerous ranking agencies, each applying its own set of criteria to evaluate institutions diverse in strengths and disciplines. It is dangerous to follow the ranking criteria blindly at all cost in order to rank high, because that would mean diluting an institution’s characteristics. According to my knowledge, some universities would use whatever means necessary for a better position. It is absolutely unacceptable. After all, there is no measure for a university to fit into all sets of ranking criteria, so why bother to follow? I believe that so far as we deploy the best of our energy, talent and resources to teaching, learning and research, we will never rank low. I’m also sure that the best institutions in the world will not rest their academic and research decisions on ranking criteria. CUHK shouldn’t do that either. What significant changes have you brought to the University? I believe CUHK has indeed become more internationalized, both in terms of breadth and depth, in areas like student intake and institutional collaboration. Take the research on population migration as an example, our social science professors are working closely with their peers in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia. We are also continuously working with UK and Australian universities on climate change research, and mainland and South American experts on agricultural technology. International collaboration is indispensable in dealing with global issues. It also helps elevating CUHK to the international arena. 你不時以Harry Lewis的話提醒大學 不要忘了首要使命，中大在過去數年 可有偏離正軌？ Harry Lewis在 Excellence Without a Soul 一書指出，即使世界頂尖學府如哈 佛，也受到市場價值觀推動，而在收生、 開辦科目、市場推廣以至畢業合格分數 上，做了很多不是真正以教育為出發點的 工作。在高等教育全球化的大環境裏，很 多外來因素如國際排名、爭取研究資金 等，的確會影響大學的發展方向，香港亦 如是。很欣慰過去幾年中大仍在緊守其 核心價值和建校宗旨，在幾項重要傳統 上，沒有倒退，反將之發揚光大，例如通 識教育廣受國際和本港賞譽，書院由四 所擴充至九所，且各有特色。 你上任不久就提出不要被大學排名牽 着鼻子走，到現在仍堅持此說嗎？ 我仍然堅持這觀點。這些排名機構各自 用本身的一把尺量度全球以千計各有特 色不同專業的大學。但是排名準則五花 八門，不可能亦步亦趨。盲目緊追，只會 漸漸失去自己獨特之處。據我所知，有些 大學為了追求排名，無所不用其極，這是 絕不可以接受的。我一向認為只要把我 們最好的精力，人才和資源投放在研究 和教學上，排名就不應該差到哪裏去。而 且我相信，世上的最佳學府不會參考排 名機構的準則來決定開辦哪些課程或推 動哪些研究領域。中大也不應如此。 你覺得自己把大學帶領進一個怎樣的 時期？ 我相信中大在過去幾年確實是國際化 了。無論在收生或是與外國學校的教研 合作，都比前廣泛和深入。例如研究人口 遷徙，社會科學院教授和美、加、歐、亞 國家緊密合作。在研究氣候變化方面，我 們跟英國和澳洲的大學合作無間，還有 跟國內和南美國家研究農業技術。這些 涉及全球的課題，不能單靠一地之力為 之，國際合作非常重要，而且也有利提升 中大的國際地位和知名度。