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HKUST 2012-13 Annual Report
5
Engaging Education Vision
Under the flexible four-year degree programs
developed by our Schools, students have time
to discover their true interests while developing
the essential skills of critical thinking, analysis and
problem solving. Walking around the University,
the new approach has been clearly visible.
The Chevalier Learning Commons and new
School advising centers have quickly become
popular meeting places for informal discussion
and project team gatherings. I see this buzz of
engaged debate as an invigorating addition to
our enlivening campus atmosphere.
Further student-centered education and teaching
opportunities were introduced when we joined
Coursera and edX online education consortia,
two leading Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
providers. The initiative keeps HKUST at the
forefront of a major global trend to leverage
digital technologies inside and outside the
classroom, and offers immense potential to reach
out to wider student audiences. Initial courses
generated an enthusiastic response, drawing tens
of thousands of enrollments.
Driving and Applying New Knowledge
Our pursuit of excellence in education was
paralleled by high-impact research achievements
and our interdisciplinary drive to deepen
knowledge and develop technologies to
improve lives. Such excellence saw two HKUST-
led projects receive funding totaling more than
$90 million under the Research Grants Council’s
Theme-based Research Scheme. Two more
projects were awarded grants of over
RMB30 million each under the National Basic
Research Program (973 Program).
Meanwhile, we continued to extend our research
scope through our strategically located Pearl
River Delta platforms – in Shenzhen, Nansha and
Foshan – and the recent partnership with Xi’an
Jiaotong University to establish a Joint School
of Sustainable Development. These platforms
will enable us to contribute to the upgrading of
industry and to work on solutions to some of the
major challenges of development.
Our achievements were also recognized over the
year with many faculty and students receiving
significant honors for their leading work,
including State Natural Science Awards and
Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research
Output Awards (Science and Technology): Natural
Sciences, as well as international accolades.
Reaching Out for Diversity
With such opportunities and excellence in
teaching and research, we have continued to
attract first-rate faculty members from around
the world, providing the fresh sparks of creative
input to keep our momentum at full strength. In
this, we have been supported by our prestigious
HKUST Named Professorship Program which,
thanks to the generosity of community donors,
has enabled us to create a total of 22 Named
Professorships to draw and retain the world’s
best minds.
The University’s goal for international diversity
among our faculty has been matched by our
drive to internationalize our student population
in order to create a stimulating multicultural
learning environment. Through on-going efforts
to raise greater awareness of HKUST and recruit
top students from different parts of the world,
over the year we moved closer to our target