Newsletter No. 84

CUHK Newsletter No. 84 4th March 1996 3 Department Update Making Decisions for and Managing The Department of Decision Sciences & Managerial Economics Prof . Ede n Yu Relate s Hi sExperienc e Prof. Eden Siu-Hung Yu, head o f the Department of Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics and an alumnus of New Asia College, has many fond memories of his student days. In particular he remembers a lengthy interview with the founding vice-chancellor of the University, Dr. L i Choh-Ming, in which Dr. Li shared with him his vision about the University and showed him the blueprint of the new campus. In January 1991, more than 20 years after the publication of that interview ina student newspaper, Prof. Yu had a chance to return to CUHK as a visiting professor in the Department of Operations and Systems Management (now renamed the Department of Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics). During the brief visit, he was profoundly moved to see that the vision of the founding vice-chancellor had indeed become a reality. Prof. Yu renewed his contract with CUHK several times before accepting an appointment on a permanent basis. He says, 'I like and cherish the University so much that I finally decided to give up an endowed chair professorship in the United States.' He was asked to head the department in August 1994. As department chair, Prof. Yu considers his main duty t o be the implementation of the University policy o f maintaining and improving quality i n teaching, research, and service. In a bid to promote effective teaching, the department formed new committees on curriculum in August 1994, and on teaching and learning in October 1995. Convinced that quality depends largely on the calibre and reputation of the teaching staff, he together with his colleagues has striven to recruit world-class scholars, as well as distinguished short-term visiting professors, t o strengthen and promote research among the existing team in his department. These new members include Ron Jones, Ira Horowitz, Ravi Batra, Everett Adam, Peter Neary, and Clay Whybark. He will also invite eminent scholars to attend conferences and seminars organized by the department. Their aim in the near future is to become the most important centre in Asia for the study of international trade and investment, total quality management and reengineering. Currently the department's main duty is to support the teaching of core and basic courses in the integrated BBA programme. A limited but quality M.Phil, and Ph.D. programme is also being developed. Prof. Yu says, 'We are ready to launch quality undergraduate programmes for majors i n decision sciences and managerial economics. When such programmes become viable, the department can grow further.' In the area of research and publication, the department has achieved an excellent record in terms of both total and per capita publications i n international refereed journals. Weekly seminars are being held to promote research interaction among colleagues in the department and post- graduate students. According to Prof. Yu, the department has been invited to link with a global league of active researchers in the field from leading universities the world over: Rochester, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Simon Fraser, Keio, Meiji Gakuin, Geneva, Tel Aviv, and the Indian Statistical Institute, among other institutions. Plans are underway to join the league, and this, Prof. Yu feels, will place the name of the department and The Chinese University more boldly on the international map of first-rate academic institutions. Apart from intensifying overseas links, interchanges with major universities i n mainland China and Taiwan are also being promoted, and closer relations with them are being cultivated. 'My efforts at enhancing interchange and linkage have been quite effective, perhaps due to the fact that I was once a visiting professor at both the People's University of China and National Taiwan University, and due to my fluency in spoken Mandarin and Shanghainese,' says Prof. Yu. Prof. Yu also believes that organizing quality international conferences will help promote academic exchange and broaden the research interests of teaching staff. Coming up soon will be two international conferences, one to be held in July 1996 ， and the other in August 1997. The 1996 conference will focus on Pacific Rim trade and economic development issues and will be attended by editors of majorjournals and noted scholars. The 1997 conference on dynamic systems and decision sciences will be coorganized by the Management School of Fudan University i n Shanghai. The department will also play a supporting role in organizing programmes for the 1997 Far Eastern Econometric Society Meeting to be held i n Hong Kong. Currently, th e department hosts the editorial office of the new journal, Pacific Economic Review, jointly published by Blackwell and Hong Kong Economic Association. The department also plans to edit a special issue on 'Economic Development and Transformation: The East Asian Economics' for the Journal of International Trade and Economic Development. This special issue will be a sequel to the two recent special issues on the Four Little Dragons (Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and Taiwan) guest-edited by Prof. Yu and his two colleagues for the same journal. As head of one of the largest and more complex academic units in the Business Administration Faculty, Prof. Yu likes to delegate administrative matters to various committees so that 'every teaching staff member has the opportunity to participate in and contribute to departmental affairs'. The one-line budget recently implemented in the University has a supporter in Prof. Yu, who considers i t 'an effective way of decentralizing decision-making down to the departmental level so as to improve staff performance and enhance efficiency and equity in resource allocation.' Yet he also concurs with some fellow department heads in the Faculty of Business Administration in the opinion that at present only very limited funds are at the free disposal of departments within the faculty. He hopes to see more decentralization and greater flexibility at the department level. In his effort to ensure the development of a first-rate decision sciences and managerial economics department, Prof. Yu aims to strengthen communication within the department a s also the department's academic programmes in all sub-areas: managerial economics, operations research, production management, and management information systems. To quote him, 'The DSE Department, while firmly based in CUHK in Hong Kong, seeks to reach out to Asia- Pacific and the world. It aims to play a leading role in Asia through its various teaching and research programmes and functions. This is a vision which, with support from the central administration, can become a reality in the foreseeable future.' Shalini Bahadur 中大通訊 CUHK NEWSLETTER 1.本刊逢四日及十九日出版。 2. 來函或投稿請寄沙田香港中文大學秘書處出版事務處《中大通訊》 編輯部（電話 2 6 0 9 7297 ，圖文傳眞 2603 6864， 電子郵.遞 pub2@uab.msmail.cuhk.edu.hk ) 。 3.投稿者須附眞實姓名、地址及聯絡電話，文章則可用筆名發表。 4.本刊編輯有權刪改及決定是否刊登來稿，不欲稿件被刪者請預先聲 明。 5.本刊所載文章只反映作者之觀點和意見，並不代表校方或本刊立 場。 6. 本刊內容未經編者書面准許，不得轉載。 7.本刊每期發行三千六百份，免費供校內教職員索閱，部分郵寄本地 教育機構及與大學有關人士。私人索閱，請致函本刊查詢。 1. The Newsletter is published on the 4th and 19th of each month. 2. All contributions and suggestions should be sent to the Editor, CUHK Newsletter, Publication Office, University Secretariat, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (tel. 2609 7297; fax. 2603 6864; e-mail pub2@uab.msmail.cuhk.edu.hk) . 3. Contributions should bear the writer's name and contact telephone number, and may be published under pseudonyms. No anonymous letters will be published. 4. The Editor reserves the right to reject contributions and to edit all articles for reasons of clarity, length or grammar. Those who do not want to have their articles amended should indicate clearly in writing. 5. The views expressed in the CUHK Newsletter are those of the authors, and are not necessarily those of the University or the Editor. 6. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced without the written consent of the Editor. 7. This publication has a circulation of 3,600 and is primarily intended for staff members of CUHK. Copies are also sent to local educational institutions and individuals associated with the University. Those who wish to be included on the mailing list please contact the Newsletter direct. 截 稿 日 期 Deadlines for Contributions 期數 Issue no. 出版日期 Issue date 截稿日期 Deadline for contributions 85 19.3.96 6.3.96 86 4.4.96 20.3.96 87 19.4.96 1.4.96 88 4.5.96 22.4.96 89 19.5.96 7.5.96 90 4.6.96 21.5.96 91 19.6.96 4.6.96 香港中文大學出版事務處出版 編輯：梁其汝 助理編輯：蔡世彬 陳偉珠 製作：黎寶翠 梅潔媚 Published by the Publication Office, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Editor: Amy K.Y. Leung Assistant Editors: Lawrence Choi, Piera Chen, Shalini Bahadur Graphic Designers: Stella P.C. Lai, May K.M. Mui 印刷：鮑思高印刷有限公司 Printing: Don Bosco Printing Co. Ltd.