The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) held its Honorary University Fellowship Presentation Ceremony 2019 yesterday (8 September) to confer Honorary University Fellowships to four distinguished personalities. The recipients are scholar in Chinese dialectology Prof. Chang Song-hing, sinologist Prof. Michael Lackner, Deputy Commissioner of Police Ms Edwina Lau Chi-wai, and computer security expert Mr Jason Wu Shang-hong. OUHK Pro-Chancellor Dr Charles Lee Yeh-kwong presided over the ceremony.
Addressing the ceremony, the Chairman of the University Council Mr Michael Wong Yick-kam lauded the four Honorary Fellowship recipients for their remarkable achievements on various fronts as well as their dedicated service in education and in supporting the University. He said that their passion and commitment to sharing knowledge with the wider community and providing support for youth education should certainly be recognized.
Mr Michael Wong expressed his deepest gratitude to the recipients who are also valuable supporters to the University. “The social and Covid-19 disruptions of the past year have significant adverse impact on our society. For the Open University as a self-financing institution, we have to face many additional and unexpected challenges. Fortunately, the drive and perseverance of the management team have seen the rapid introduction of a series of support measures for staff and students alike. We are also fortunate that we have been receiving continuous and unflagging support from our donors, partners, researchers and members of the community during these difficult times. These supporters' commitment to the OUHK in terms of sharing ideas, delivering dedicated and innovative work, providing financial support and developing initiatives for the future have been essential for our future growth,” Mr Wong said.
OUHK President Prof. Yuk-Shan Wong congratulated the four recipients and thanked them sincerely for supporting the University. Although COVID-19 has brought disruption to all walks of life including the higher education sector, the OUHK has navigated the way through the unprecedented and challenging times, and found ways of achieving its mission and delivering the best learning experience possible to its students. Prof. Wong strongly believed that the OUHK will emerge better and stronger from the pandemic.
Prof. Wong said that the OUHK Jockey Club Institute of Healthcare is expected to be ready for use in the last quarter this year. The new campus will bring the University amazing new facilities and opportunities for all OUHK students. At the same time, the OUHK is also exploring the important issue of university retitling. “We have a long and proud history of open access and distance education, but the rapid growth in our full-time professional programmes and students means that our name is increasingly out of sync with our reality. To take the University to the next level, we need a suitable title that reflects our unique characteristics and strategic focuses. In pursuit of this initiative, we have embarked on a review exercise and formed a University Title Selection Committee. At the moment, we are in the process of collecting nominations of the new title from OUHK stakeholders and the general public.”
Brief profiles of the four distinguished leaders are as follows:
Prof. Chang Song-hing is a distinguished scholar in Chinese dialectology who has contributed greatly to preserving the unique cultural heritage of Southeast China. Serving at the Chinese University of Hong Kong for more than 40 years, Professor Chang is currently an Honorary Research Fellow of the University's Institute of Chinese Studies. He has been a staunch supporter of the OUHK in many diverse roles including as an external examiner of several Chinese programmes. ( learn more)
Prof. Michael Lackner is a renowned sinologist who has made impressive contributions to the understanding of Chinese culture in the West. He is currently the Chair Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. In 2016, the OUHK welcomed Prof. Lackner as a Distinguished Professor for the project 'Chinese Culture in the Global Context', and he is a consultant for the University's Tin Ka Ping Centre of Chinese Culture. ( learn more)
Ms Edwina Lau Chi-wai has been serving the Hong Kong Police Force for over 30 years and is now the Deputy Commissioner of Police (National Security). The OUHK had been working with her closely in her former role as Director of the Hong Kong Police College, where she oversaw training-related programmes for Hong Kong's 30,000-strong Police Force. She deepened the College’ s academic cooperation with the OUHK by signing a new Memorandum of Understanding in 2016, which helped promote the culture of continuing education among Police officers. ( learn more)
Mr Jason Wu Shang-hong is a widely recognized expert and author on computer security. He is the Co-founder and currently Executive Director of Wings Finance. Among other roles, he is a Governor of the Wu Jieh Yee Charitable Foundation, a major public benefactor that has supported the OUHK since 1994. Most recently, the Foundation donated a remarkable $15 million to the OUHK in support of our new Jockey Club Institute of Healthcare. ( learn more)
About the OUHK:
Established by the Government in 1989, The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) has developed into a full-fledged university providing high quality and flexible university education at various levels to secondary school graduates and working adults. As a dynamic and innovative university, the OUHK currently offers programmes of different academic levels to about 10,000 full-time students and 9,000 part-time students. Our mission is to advance learning, knowledge and research that meet students’ learning aspirations and society's talent needs, focusing on practical and professional programmes.
OUHK comprises six Schools, i.e. School of Arts and Social Sciences, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, School of Education and Languages, School of Nursing and Health Studies, School of Science and Technology, and Li Ka Shing School of Professional and Continuing Education (LiPACE). LiPACE provides lifelong learning opportunities by offering full-time sub-degree programmes, community learning and professional programmes OUHK website: www.hkmu.edu.hk
