Dear Colleagues,
September is the month we welcome new and returning students to the University. New students, especially those from mainland China, will have to get used to the compact and “intimate” HKMU campus.
Over the past several years, we have made a special effort to increase our campus space. By way of example, we rented one and a half floors of a Grade A commercial building to provide off-campus space for several administrative offices. And the Homantin Plaza Learning Centre, close to our main campus, is now in full operation, expanding our capability to deliver mass lectures and provide additional offices for staff.
Although we have substantially increased our learning and office space on and off our campuses in recent years, colleagues may not yet have noticed a substantial improvement based on their day-to-day experience.
One major reason is that the extra space created to date under the various university initiatives has been used to provide a much-needed “buffer” so that vacated rooms can be suitably renovated and offices relocated to maximise subsequent usage and facilitate spatial consolidation. For this reason, colleagues will notice that not all the space is used or occupied immediately after it has been vacated.
The space shortage will be exacerbated in the short term by a much higher acceptance rate by applicants of our offers than usual, which will see our University welcome at least 1,000 more full-time students on campus than our planned intake this year.
Despite these circumstances, I hope that faculty, staff and students will still note and appreciate the improvements made possible by the efforts of our HKMU staff and the cooperation and patience of the entire HKMU community.
The university is currently seeking to purchase suitable property in the city for use as a “HKMU Town Centre”, which will provide a premium, multi-functional venue for executive training, business meetings, seminars and conferences, specialised laboratories and community outreach.
I am confident that as we move forward, colleagues will see the benefits and enjoy the new facilities that we are setting up.
Let us fill the new academic year with positive energy, renewed vigour and best wishes!
Paul LAM Kwan-sing
President
