CUHK: Five Decades in Pictures

72 第四個十年： 1993–2002 T he decade from 1993 to 2002 was a watershed in Hong Kong history. After about 150 years as a British colony, Hong Kong saw off the last years of its colonial era and reverted to Chinese sovereignty on 1 July 1997. During this period, CUHK also underwent leadership changes and governance reforms. After being at the helm of the University for almost nine years, Professor Charles K. Kao retired in 1996. Professor Arthur K.C. Li was appointed Vice- Chancellor of CUHK, succeeding Professor Kao. In 2002, Professor Li resigned from the Vice- Chancellorship as he assumed his new position of Secretary for Education and Manpower of the Hong Kong SAR Government. He was succeeded by Professor Ambrose King. With the expansion of tertiary education in Hong Kong, CUHK had grown in size and its services and functions had become increasingly diversified. The University began to decentralize certain administrative functions to the Faculties, departments and administrative units to ensure efficiency and flexibility. In 1995–96, it implemented a performance-based funding methodology. New internal audit mechanisms were also introduced to ensure adequate internal control and quality service-delivery. New schools which either consolidated existing academic programmes or offered new ones mushroomed throughout the 1990s. The School of Accountancy was established in 1993; the School of Hotel Management (renamed School of Hotel and Tourism Management in 2002) and the School of Chinese Medicine in 1998; the School of Public Health (renamed School of Public Health and Primary Care in 2009) and the School of Journalism and Communication in 1999. During this decade, the population of undergraduate students plateaued at some 9,000. But that of the postgraduate students more than doubled, increasing from 2,137 in 1993–94 to 5,641 in 2001–2002. The earmarked grants for research received by CUHK from the Research Grants Council rose from some HK$29 million in 1993–94 to more than 110 million in 2001–02. These figures were testimony to the fact that CUHK had already evolved into a research university with substantial research capacity. New technologies, ideas, and processes resulting from research had led to much increased technology transfer activities. To the University, technology transfer is a form of service to the community and a way to contribute to high-tech and high value added industries in Hong Kong. Through licensing, spin-off companies, and other channels, many inventions with commercial value had been successfully transferred to local and international businesses and industries. These successes had also brought recognition to the University’s outstanding researchers. After Hong Kong had returned to Chinese rule under ‘One Country, Two Systems’ in 1997, the relationship between the city and mainland China became closer than ever. As economic and other ties grew stronger, talent who were conversant in the cultures of the two places