2024 UGC Teaching Award Presentation Ceremony
7 October 2024
Speech by Dr Julia CHEN, PhD, FTCL, PFHEA
Chair, Hong Kong Teaching Excellence Alliance
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Good afternoon, Chair, heads and senior management of universities, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen
It is a great honour to be invited to take up the chairpersonship of the Hong Kong Teaching Excellence Alliance, and to take over from Professor Isabella Poon, who has laid such a strong foundation for the Alliance with her dedicated leadership over the last six years. Thank you very much, Isabella.
I must thank the University Grants Committee. Thank you, Chairman Lui, for your introduction and warm wishes in your Welcoming Remarks just now. Thank you to the UGC Secretariat, to Secretary-General Professor James Tang for your invitation, support and directions. Thank you for establishing the Teaching Excellence Alliance in the first place, and for your suggestions on how we can take it forward in the next few years. I must thank Mr Louis Leung, Deputy Secretary-General, who is a delight to work with. Louis is thorough, efficient, encouraging. Thank you for your work and advice throughout the transition. And thank you to Jenny, candy and Rocky at the UGC Secretariat. Your staunch support is essential to the success of the Teaching Excellence Alliance.
Allow me to introduce the Teaching Excellence Alliance’s new Executive Committee. Professor SC Kong of The Education University of Hong Kong and Prof Tim Woo of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology are staying on the ExCom, and we have a new member, Professor Chui Lik Hang of City University of Hong Kong. Although we do not have all universities represented on the Executive Committee, rest assured we will come knocking on your doors and reach out to all universities for your valuable views and support as, after all, teaching excellence is our common goal and pursuit.
Indeed, teaching is not just a job. It is more than a career. It is a vocation with a passion for the next generation, a passion for extending knowledge and abilities of the humankind. This is a challenging time for higher education. The rapid advancement of technology has bid us to redesign learning, teaching and assessment. We are experiencing a paradigm shift that dares us to rethink: what is education, what is the value of formal institutions like ours, and how our education can stay relevant, so that we can live up to the trust and expectations, and be worthy of our next generation. As such, this is also an exciting time for higher education. So, this evening is the perfect occasion to appeal to everyone – heads and management and excellent teachers from all eight universities, let us all join hands to ride from strength to strength, and to scale new heights for our students, teachers, institutions, city and nation. And be a great dynamic example for the world, and show them we are a buzzling, vibrant, leading international higher education hub. Thank you very much.
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