Newsletter No. 134

CUHK Newsletter No. 134 4th November 1998 3 Servic e t oth e Communityan d Internationa l Organization s • Prof. Richard M.W. Ho, registrar, has been appointed by the Secretary for Education and Manpower as a member of the Curriculum Development Council for ayear from 1st September 1998. • Prof. Leslie N.K. Lo, director of the Hong Kong Institute of Educational Research, has been re-appointed by the Secretary for Education and Manpower as a member of the Curriculum Development Council for a year from 1st September 1998. • Prof. Tan Chee-beng, professor in the Department of Anthropology, has been appointed as honorary professor by the Faculty of Arts of The University of Hong Kong from 1st September 1998 to 31st August 1999, and by Huaqiao University in Quanzhou, Fujian. • Prof. Michael Bond, professor o f psychology, delivered his presentation at the seminar 'Women in Business Make a Difference' sponsored by the American Chamber o f Commerce and th e International Women's Forum on 17th September 1998 in Hong Kong. • Prof. Yeung Yue-man, director of the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, has been appointed as a member of the International Eurasian Academy o f Sciences from 28th June 1998. • Prof. Sing Lee, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry, has been invited by Excerpta Medica Communications, Reed Elsevier, to be amember of the Pfizer Psychiatry Advisory Board t o plan educational projects for doctors in Asia from September 1998. • Dr. Peter S.F. Chan, senior lecturer in the Department of Surgery, was awarded the Wu Jieping Medical Award for Urology 1998 b y the Wu Jieping Medical Foundation for Urology, Beijing, on 4th September 1998 in recognition of his contribution to the development of urology and urological services. (information in this section is provided by the Information and Public Relations Office. Contributions should be sent direct to that office for registration and verification before publication.) CU Press New Book Thefollowing book is available to staff of the University at the University Bookstore, John Fulton Centre. Faces in the Crowd is a moving story of the author's journey to search for people he met during 20 years of working with charities in Asia, people including a family of sugar workers, a well-meaning banker, a village woman, and a boy with leprosy. The author Chris Bale lived and worked in Hong Kong for 20 years. He was director of Oxfam Hong Kong from 1984 to 1991, and was also for many years the senior news presenter for Asia Television's World Channel. He produced a number of award winning documentary films. In 1986 he was selected as one of Hong Kong's Ten Outstanding Young Persons and in 1996 was awarded the MBE for services to charity. He is now based in London as director of Befrienders International, the umbrella organization for the Samaritan movement worldwide. Bale has waived his royalties on this book and for each copy sold, a sum of HK$16 w i ll be donated to Oxfam Hong Kong to support work with poor communities in Asia. 224 pages, 170 M l colour photos, HK$160 continue to carry the same English title and, subject to the necessary statutory amendments, w i l l adopt the new Chinese title o f 財務長. Challenges The challenges that confronted the Bursary in the last triennium included: (1) the reduction in government funding for the University; (2) the i m p l e m e n t a t i on o f the N e w Funding Model, which revolutionized the financial modus operandi o f the University; (3) the enactment o f the Occupational Retirement Scheme Ordinance by the g o v e r n m e n t, w i t h f a r - r e a c h i ng implications on the Superannuation Fund o f the University; (4) the need to build up a decent financial reserve for the University, wh i ch has fallen to an alarmingly l ow level; (5) a heightened cost/saving awareness in the University community; (6) the expectations o f c l i en t s, b o th outside and inside the University, for b e t t er a nd f a s t er f i n a n c i al a nd business services; (7) the retirement o f the l o ng serving Bursar, thus the loss o f his wealth o f experience i n Un i v e r s i ty financial management dating back to the m i d 1960s. Changes These challenges brought about the following responses f r om the Bursary: (1) c h a n g i n g l e a d e r s h ip w i t h t h e a p p o i n t me nt o f a n ew Bu r s ar i n October 1996; (2) restructuring o f the Bursary to reset its focus and build up its team spirit; (3) introducing a process o f reengineering to i mp r o ve p r o d u c t i v i t y, responsiveness, and service quality; (4) m i g r a t i ng t o the SAP c omp u t er system to cope w i th the demands o f a new financial system; (5) conducting, w i th the help o f outside consultants, an M ER to retrench costs, right-size its establishment, improve its span o f control, and reposition the Bursary in the University's administration hierarchy; (6) improving its communication w i th the university community to speed up the f l ow o f financial i n f o rma t i on, and enable users t o unde r s t and mo re readily the modus operandi o f the Bursary. Results T h e r e s u l t s h a v e b e e n v e r y encouraging. Manpower Right-sizing The total number o f staff was reduced f r om 101 in October 1996 to 88 in 1998, representing a headcount as w e l l as percentage reduction o f 13 per cent. No compromise in service quality has been ma de t h r o u g h o ut t he r i g h t - s i z i ng exercise. Productivity Gains/CostSavings The measures i n t r o d u c ed b y the B u r s a r y g e n e r a t ed a t o t a l s a v i n g/ additional income o f $5.3 m i l l i on per year. The M E R i d e n t i f i ed other cost savings o f $2.6 m i l l i o n. Thus the cost saving total o f the Bursary in the period amounted to $7.9 m i l l i on per annum, or 21 per cent. Increased Responsiveness and Timeliness Ov er 99 per cent o f invoices are cleared within one month upon receipt by the Bursary, whereas in the past this could t a k e a s l o n g a s t h r e e m o n t h s . S u p e r a n n u a t i on f u n d i n v e s t m e nt p e r f o r m a n c e, w h i c h h i t h e r to was available on a quarterly basis, is n ow a v a i l a b le t h r o u gh the I n t e r n et on a monthly basis. Annual accounts are now published in November, whilst previously these were available i n spring o f the following year. Enhancement inService Quality The service quality o f the different units o f the Bursary has been upgraded. F o r e x a m p l e , t he t e n d e r i ng a nd procurement system received positive c omme n ts f r o m t he I C A C , w h i c h c o n f i r med i n a recent report that the Bursary had 'implemented an effective and e f f i c i e nt p r o c u r eme nt s y s t em, including the establishment o f a set o f tightly controlled tendering procedures'. On financial planning and budgeting, the Bursary has forged a good partnership w i t h various departments and offices to successfully implement the targets set by the RAC, culminating in the building up o f a reserve o f $562 million by June 1998, as against a meagre $11 m i l l i on in the beginning o f the 1995-98 triennium. Increased CustomerFocusand Cooperation withOther Offices The Bursary is now more customer oriented. In 1997, nine half-day seminars w e r e h e l d w i t h f a c u l t i e s a n d administrative offices to b r i ef them on and discuss major aspects o f the one-line budget, private fund operation, tendering procedures, and insurance issues. The participants responded positively. The increased cooperation o f the Bursary w i th other administrative offices facilitates the successful implementation o f important projects, such as the launching o f the H o me F i n a n c i ng Scheme ( w i t h the Personnel Office), and the relocation o f staff to Residences 16 and 17 ( w i th the Campus Development Office, CDO, and the Estates Ma n a g eme nt O f f i c e ). I n recognition o f the substantial financial resources at the disposal o f CDO, whose total construction portfolio stands at $700 m i l l i o n, a w e l l experienced Finance Manager has been assigned to CDO to wo rk w i th its professionals to enhance its f i n a n c i al management system and t o r e i n f o r ce the i n t e r f a ce o f f i n a n c i al i n f o r m a t i on b e t we en C D O and the Bursary. EncouragingScore in Benchmarking The M E R conducted by external management consultants confirms that the performance o f the Bursary compares f a v o u r a b ly w i t h l o c al and overseas tertiary institutions, e.g. in terms o f the number o f financial staff to students, and the number o f staff to total expenditure. The Bursary excels i n most quarters, e x c e pt i n a c o u p le o f areas wh e re improvement can be expected in the near future due to the new measures being introduced. Looking Ahead The Bursary is f u l ly appreciative o f and thankful for the cooperation, support and understanding o f other Un i v e r s i ty departments and offices, wh i ch enable i t to make modest i mp r o v emen ts t o its s e r v i c e s . T h e r e i s n o r o o m f o r complacency, for as the Chinese saying goes, 'a journey o f a thousand miles starts w i t h the first step' (千里之行，始於足 下 ) . The Bursary has only begun the first step, and a lot more effort is required. Changes in the tertiary education arena, i n aspirations o f the community and in e c o n o m i c c l i m a t e w i l l m a k e t h e f o r t h c om i ng t r i e n n i um a t r y i ng one, especially for financial management staff in the tertiary institutions. The Bursary h o p e s t h a t , w i t h a p o s i t i v e a nd c ommu n i c a t i ve approach, and t a k i ng advantage o f the cordial relationship it has e s t a b l i s h ed w i t h the a c adem ic and administrative units, it can take on further improvements to meet the challenges o f the tough days ahead. Bursary staff are reminded that when the going gets tough, only the tough gets going. O University Bursary