News

The Long Service Awards Presentation Ceremony 2019 was held on Thursday, June 6, 2019, in Loke Yew Hall. The President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Xiang Zhang officiated at the ceremony and presented the awards. Three Faculty colleagues were honoured.

Colleagues who have served the University for 25 years:

Professor Carol Chan (Professor)

Professor Lena Wong (Professor)

Colleagues who have served the University for 15 years:

Dr Patcy Yeung (Associate Professor)

The Faculty appreciates and is grateful for colleagues’ dedicated service. Warmest congratulations to all!

We are very pleased to announce that the Bachelor of Science in Speech and Hearing Sciences [BSc(Sp&HearSc)] programme has obtained full endorsement status from the Hong Kong Institute of Speech Therapists (HKIST).  Graduates from the programme will be accepted as eligible to apply for registration as Speech Therapists accredited by Department of Health.

The BSc(Sp&HearSc) programme is an intensive full-time programme which offers students a solid theoretical background in normal human communication and its disorders as well as in related medical and psychological disciplines, English and Cantonese linguistics and hearing sciences. For more information about the BSc(Sp&HearSc) programme, please visit: https://web.edu.hku.hk/programme/bsshs_6157

On April 17, 2019, Dr Jisun Jung and Dr Hugo Horta received a Best Book Award from the Higher Education Special Interest Group (HESIG) of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) at the 2019 CIES Annual Meeting in San Francisco, USA.

The book, “Researching in Higher Education in Asia: History, Development, and Future” (Springer), was selected as the best book of the year. The work resulted from a collaborative venture between the two HKU scholars and Professor Akiyoshi Yonezawa from Tohoku University, Japan.

The book was selected by the Award Committee for its contribution to the field of higher education providing the first comprehensive analysis and discussion of higher education as a field of study in Asia. 

Congratulations to Dr Jung and Dr Horta for their well deserved award!

For more information about HESIG, please visit: https://www.higheredsig.org/

On April 8, 2019, Dr Gary Harfitt and Ms Jessie Chow received an Outstanding Conference Submission Award from the Service-Learning and Experiential Education Special Interest Group (SIG) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) at the 2019 AERA Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada.

The Outstanding Conference Submission Award recognises an outstanding paper submission to the Service-Learning and Experiential Education SIG. All papers submitted and accepted to the SIG annual meeting programme are eligible for the award. Finalists are determined by reviewer ratings with the Awards Committee making the final selection.

Their article entitled, Hearing the Community Voice in the Process of Teacher Education and Experiential Learning, was selected by the Awards Committee for its excellent contribution to the field of service-learning and experiential education, and how it contributes not just to research in general, but to the specialist field.

Congratulations to Dr Harfitt and Ms Chow for receiving this award!

The HKU Excellence Awards Presentation Ceremony 2018 for academic and administrative staff members was held on March 29, 2019 (Friday). The annual event is held to celebrate the exceptional achievements of our academics in teaching and learning and in research, to recognise their contributions to knowledge exchange with society, and to honour the outstanding performances of our professional services colleagues.

Congratulations to our Faculty members who have been awarded at the HKU Excellence Awards Presentation Ceremony 2018.

Outstanding Teaching Award

Individual awards

• Ms Tanya Kempston (Division of English Language Education)

• Dr Patcy Yeung (Division of Learning, Development and Diversity)

Team awards

• Dr Gary Harfitt (Leader), Ms Jessie Chow and Ms Candace Mok (Faculty Experiential Learning Team)

Early Career Teaching Award

• Dr Elizabeth Barrett (Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences)

Outstanding Researcher Award

• Professor Nirmala Rao (Division of Learning, Development and Diversity)

The Selection Panel was deeply impressed with the awardees’ dedication and passion in teaching and research, their tireless and creative efforts to make learning enjoyable and challenging, and the impact that they have made on their students’ learning. It is extremely encouraging for everyone in the Faculty who can draw continuing inspiration from our colleagues’ successes.

Please visit https://web.edu.hku.hk/photo/hku-excellence-awards-presentation-ceremony-2018  for more photos.

We are pleased to share the news that Professor Nancy Law has been elected as a 2019 Fellow of the International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS).

ISLS is a leading professional society for academics, professionals and students seeking to advance the science and practices of learning. It brings together those interested in learning experiences across schools, homes, workplaces and communities who seek to understand how collaboration and learning are enabled by knowledge, tools, networks, and social structures. The ISLS Fellows programme recognises those who have made major contributions to the Learning Sciences since its inception nearly three decades ago. These individuals are each highly accomplished scholars and community members who will continue to serve society through their leadership and mentorship activities.

For more information about the ISLS, please visit:https://www.isls.org/

This is a wonderful honour in recognition of Professor Law’s great work in the Science of Learning. Please join us in congratulating Professor Law on her induction as a 2019 ISLS Fellow.

We are glad to share with you that our Faculty is ranked the 6th globally in the latest QS World Rankings by Subject 2019 released on February 27, 2019.

The Faculty has consistently performed well in world rankings. In the QS University Subject Ranking, the Faculty was ranked the 7th globally for two consecutive years in 2017 and 2018. The Faculty maintains its position among the top Education faculties in the latest QS ranking and moves up to the 6th place, joining the league of 1) University College London, 2) Harvard University, 3) Stanford University, 4) University of Oxford, and 5) University of Cambridge. In addition, the Times Higher Education (THE) University Subject Ranking for Education placed the Faculty as world number 4 for two consecutive years in 2018 and 2019.

QS uses four criteria for its ranking system – Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Citations per paper, and H-index, which measures both the productivity and impact of a scholar’s publications. The relative weightings of these criteria vary slightly from discipline to discipline. For Education, the weightings are 50% Academic Reputation, 10% Employer Reputation, 20% Citations, and 20% H-index. The ratings reflect the academic peers’ and employers’ opinions of the Faculty, and also the achievements of academic staff in research (citations and impact). The Faculty has obtained a high indicative score of 88 and scored very strongly on all four criteria, which demonstrates the Faculty’s all-rounded accomplishments.

Professor A. Lin Goodwin, Dean of the Faculty, said: “My colleagues and I are very encouraged by the Faculty’s latest QS University Subject Ranking of 6, which reaffirms our position as a global leader in teaching and research. It is the result of the outstanding achievements by our Faculty members, students and alumni, and an outcome of our unremitting efforts in research, teaching and knowledge exchange. We will continue to strive for excellence and to maintain our high academic and research standards internationally.”

For the full set of rankings for Education, please refer to http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2019/education-training.

Ocean Park and The University of Hong Kong (HKU) are pleased to have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to deepen collaboration for innovative educational and research initiatives. These include an inaugural Ocean Park International STEAM Education Conference and a 'hackathon' that allows students to design guest experience solutions for the Park.

Having signed the MOU, Ocean Park will work with the Faculty of Education to jointly create experiential learning education programmes for future education professionals.

In formalising the collaboration, Ocean Park and HKU will extend their long-standing working relationship, with the MOU offering a framework to support ongoing cooperation in four key strategic areas. These include educational programme development (ranging from seasonal educational camps, credit-bearing courses for tertiary education to public engagement initiatives such as the Water Fun Fest and more); student internships; research projects including zoology and wildlife and environmental conservation; and innovation and knowledge exchange projects including a 'DreamCatcher’s hackathon' and STEAM conferences.

We are very pleased to announce that Miss Michelle Cheng Wing Tung, our PhD student, gained the runner-up position in the second round (B) of the U21/PwC Innovation Challenge competition. She will receive a cash prize from HKU and exclusive coaching sessions with the PwC Academy, tailored to her career needs.

Universitas 21 (U21) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), two globally-focused organisations, have come together to offer the Innovation Challenge to enable Masters and PhD students at U21 institutions to access global work opportunities in a mutually beneficial relationship.

The challenge asks students to respond to the idea of working in a world where innovation rules and automation and “thinking machines” are replacing humans to accomplish tasks. However, in this competition round students were asked to respond to and prepare for working globally in situations where companies care, and humans come first. This round included U21 institutions from Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and countries in North and South America.

“The future of work is a topic that links to almost all of us, I am glad to have this excellent opportunity to consider it deeply. The competition also required us to reflect on our personal strengths and weaknesses, a valuable chance for me to evaluate and further improve myself,” said Miss Cheng.

Further information can be found on the U21 website:
https://universitas21.com/news-and-events/news/universitas-21-and-pwc-announce-winners-innovation-challenge-group-b