Our commitment to being
Asia’s Global University is supported by three pillars,
which provide the framework for our strategy.

In the first pillar, our curriculum provides students with a total learning experience, combining both disciplinary specialisation and broad-based engagement with current and global issues. Students will be exposed to innovative approaches to teaching and learning, which will be supported by upgraded infrastructure. Our intention by the end of the present decade is to establish The University of Hong Kong as one of the world’s most progressive and dynamic universities for teaching and learning, as well as one which makes a positive and tangible impact on society.

Internationalisation

We will ensure that the education we provide is among the most international available anywhere in the world by further developing our curricula and our vibrant, cosmopolitan campus, nurturing globally-minded thinkers and leaders, and providing space and opportunity for students to gain exceptional learning experiences outside Hong Kong. We will:

• expand student and staff diversity;
• promote diversity awareness and empowerment;
• extend opportunities for cross-cultural encounters, particularly amongst students;
• deepen multicultural components of campus life;
• increase opportunities for students to gain learning experiences in mainland China and overseas; and
• focus on quality in developing our more successful and mature internationalisation programmes.

Innovation

In order to equip our graduates to tackle grand global challenges, we will develop innovative and forward-thinking talents, and invest in an enabling environment where creativity, experimentation and calculated risk-taking are prized and harnessed. We will:

• make full use of information technology to support our teaching and learning strategies in general and our e-learning strategy in particular;
• create an innovation and entrepreneurship centre where students, alumni and friends of the University can meet to explore new ideas and pursue joint projects;
• partner with innovative organisations to create opportunities for students to gain exposure to cutting-edge experience in both the commercial and non-commercial sectors; and
• empower students, whether individually or in groups, to design and implement their own innovative off-campus learning programmes.

Interdisciplinarity

The ever-growing interconnectedness of ideas, fields and industries in the global environment is placing demands on universities to produce graduates able to adapt swiftly, seamlessly and effectively to often unpredictable situations. We will:

• create new spaces in the curriculum within which interdisicplinary and multidisciplinary activities can emerge;

• continue to invest in interdisciplinary programme and curriculum development; and
• take forward our pioneering undergraduate Common Core Curriculum to deepen still further students’ exposure to interdisciplinary modes of teaching and learning.

Impact

Making a positive impact on society is central to our mission, as is our commitment to knowledge exchange. For many years we have created opportunities for our students and staff to make a difference locally, regionally and globally. Now, we are seeking to take our many efforts to the next stage so that every student has opportunities for personal development, improved language skills and experience outside their comfort zone. Via partnerships with industry, businesses and other employers, charities and non-governmental organisations, we will facilitate internships, work placements, experiential learning and charity work locally and all over the world. We will:

• further embed social responsibility into our curriculum to ensure that our students can better serve society and meet its growing needs;
• create additional pathways for students to learn in mainland China and overseas that are designed explicitly to deliver measurable social gain; and
• promote student innovation on campus and in the larger society to stimulate positive social change.

The strategic intention for our second and third pillars is to be a world-class global university with world-leading research in critical areas through knowledge creation, translation, realisation and impact.

Internationalisation

Strategic collaboration and partnership, especially cross-institution and cross-continent, provide the richest sources for global talents and out-of-the-box ideas, and the inherent knowledge infusion and cross-fertilisation of intellectual wisdom will fuel this interconnecting world of communities. The University believes that strategic collaboration will sharpen our role in the community and maximise our value in the international academic community. Adopting a dual-strategy in collaborative partnership: public-public and public-private (PPP), we will:

• embark on outcomes-based public-public partnership with municipal bodies serving the public interest (e.g. health, energy, environment, housing, crime, security, etc.), and public-private partnership typified by enterprise-centred collaboration with industry and private corporations;
• strengthen strategic cross-institutional collaboration to enhance both the breadth and width of our research, thus directly strengthening the competitiveness of HKU in public and private funding;
• create new funding sources from public and private agencies as well as tapping into the rich pool of research funding across the world;
• build on collaborative PPPs to tap into new sources of funding and talents, and connect the academic circle to the world of business, entrepreneurs and philanthropists; and
• strengthen our international network through research partnership and collaboration, strategic alliance, flagship conferences and symposia, and joint benchmarking and evaluation exercises.

Innovation

Modern universities need to capitalise upon the rich opportunities arising from the emerging world of open innovation to utilise the best minds coupled with the ability to harness knowledge in a strongly collaborative culture. The University of Hong Kong intends to thrive in this new world, integrating Western and Eastern research scholarship. We will:

• make purposeful advances in translational research to enable HKU to be a driving force in the emerging world of open innovation;
• collaborate with and help develop public bodies, private corporations and global organisations; and
• recognise techno-preneurship and entrepreneurship as important pursuits that celebrate not only academic excellence and quality, but also the spirit of creation and expedition.

Interdisciplinarity

Research must provide valuable and unparalleled educational opportunities for our scholars, equipping them with the knowledge and intellectual attributes needed for the inherently interdisciplinary and increasingly complex world of tomorrow. Central to our research strategy is the introduction of complementary interdisciplinary initiatives that draw diverse subject expertises into a cross-domain platform on which new knowledge is created and harnessed under a common vision. We will:

• strengthen and consolidate our strategic research themes with the aim of developing into an internationally-leading knowledge hub and capability centre;
• sustain themes that are internationally leading, and in areas of local and global significance;
• grow areas that attract competitive funding, especially from non-traditional sources;
• incubate areas that demonstrate strong commercial potential or address societal needs;
• support areas that are driven by frontier researchers or stars-in-the-making;
• invest in niche areas that can evolve as key drivers in our mainland China and international engagement and collaboration;
• develop strategies for integrating the research themes and creating room for the growth of new areas;
• ensure that research has clearly articulated outcomes and execution strategies; and
• strengthen our platform for international collaboration and partnership.

Impact

All key international, innovative and interdisciplinary initiatives must converge towards the creation of impact, measured both by quality and outcome, as well as value and benefit. We will make a paradigm shift to focus on and reward internationally leading academic outputs, as well as research innovations that benefit communities and transform global technologies. The quality and impact of our research will be measured not only by conventional academic metrics, but also by the tangible benefits we bring to the global as well as local, mainland China and broader Asian communities. There will be a shift from activity to value, from output to outcome, and from strength to leadership. Through our partnership engagement and research endeavors, we aspire to lead the academic world and add transformational value to our society. We will:

• provide more opportunities for outcomes-driven translational and transformational research;
• support research that transcends intellectual output to meeting an innovative outcome that has value and impact, and driven by societal needs or enterprise;
• deliver demonstrable and significant outcomes to our social communities and the technological world through research, innovation and enterprise development; and
• educate, nurture and develop the next generation of academic scholars, eminent professionals, research pioneers and society leaders.