UGC presents awards for Teaching Excellence
The University Grants Committee (UGC) held its presentation ceremony for the 2014 UGC Teaching Award today (September 10) to honour academics in the UGC-funded institutions for their outstanding teaching performance and achievements, as well as their leadership and scholarly contribution to teaching and learning within and across institutions.
The presentation ceremony was well attended by the UGC Members, Council Chairmen and Heads of the UGC-funded institutions and their senior management, as well as those nominated for the award and some 40 outstanding academics.
The recipients of the 2014 UGC Teaching Award, in alphabetical order, are:
Professor Charles Kwong Yim-tze, Professor
of Chinese and Translation and Adjunct Professor
of Philosophy, Lingnan University
Mr John Lin Chun-han, Associate Professor,
Faculty of Architecture, The University
of Hong Kong
Dr Elaine Liu Suk-ching, Associate Professor,
Department of Applied Social Sciences, City
University of Hong Kong
The award citations are at Annex A.
Speaking at the award presentation ceremony, the Chairman of the UGC, Mr Edward Cheng, congratulated the awardees and nominees on their accomplishments and thanked the UGC-funded institutions and Members of the Selection Panel to the UGC Teaching Award for their support.
Mr Cheng said, "The awardees of the UGC Teaching Award "ambassadors of good teaching". They are passionate in their teaching, and are instrumental to enhancing the student learning experience through various ways, from the use of new pedagogies to the provision of opportunities for students to interact with society. Their passion has led them to share their valuable teaching philosophies with their peers through building up various forms of communities of practice to inspire other academics of effective teaching practices."
He believed that the organisation of the UGC Teaching Award not only demonstrated UGC's appreciation for the hard work of academics of Hong Kong's higher education sector, but more importantly, contributed to a real and sustained impact in promoting teaching excellence.
The three recipients of the 2014 UGC Teaching Award were selected from among 16 outstanding nominees through a rigorous process. All nominees were carefully selected by their own institutions. The selection of the final recipients of the UGC Teaching Award was undertaken by a Selection Panel convened by Professor William Kirby. The selection criteria and the composition of the Selection Panel for the 2014 UGC Teaching Award are at Annex B.
Professor Kirby, who has been the Chairperson of the Selection Panel for the past four years, believes that the differences between a university and a research institution are that universities pay attention to teaching, education, mentorship, and impact of great teachers on the lives of their students and the broader community.
When announcing the result of this year's
award, Professor Kirby said, "The universities
here in Hong Kong are blessed with great
teachers. We have met truly extraordinary
educators." He commended the awardees
for inspiring their students and engaging
them in learning with energy and enthusiasm.
The three awardees have demonstrated leadership
in teaching within and across institutions
and come up with award grant initiatives
that could reward their institutions and
the entire UGC sector in teaching and learning.
Chairman of the University Grants
Committee (UGC), Mr Edward Cheng,
and Members of the Selection Panel
of the 2014 UGC Teaching Award took
a group photo with the three recipients
of the 2014 UGC Teaching Award at
the presentation ceremony. (From left)
Professor Alan Lau Kin-tak, Professor
Adrian Dixon, Mr Edward Cheng, Dr
Elaine Liu Suk-ching, Mr John Lin
Chun-han, Professor Charles Kwong
Yim-tze, Professor William Kirby and
Professor Paul Blackmore.
Awardee Professor Charles Kwong Yim-tze shares his teaching philosophies.
Awardee Mr John Lin Chun-han shares his teaching philosophies.
Awardee Dr Elaine Liu Suk-ching shares her teaching philosophies.
Annex A
Award Citations
Professor Charles Kwong Yim-tze, Professor of Chinese and Translation and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Lingnan University
Professor Kwong has practiced a Dao of Teaching which can be spoken, and which has endured. He can be named as a teacher-scholar of enduring success. He is a scholar, a poet, a teacher. A "spiritual master," as one of his students has described him. A man of "caring wisdom", says another, whose teaching is "moving and magnetic". As a humanist, he believes teaching in the liberal arts is not simply transmitting knowledge, but exploring values; that a humanist teacher should be a constant learner, a fellow student who never graduates. He is a deeply learned scholar of literature; a prolific author.
Professor Kwong plans to use the award
grant to share his Dao of teaching and his
experience with both Chinese and Western
philosophies of education with teachers
in the sector through talks and seminars
and in two books. The first will be a series
of essays entitled, Dialogues on Modern
Existence,
reflecting on his dialogic exchanges with
students over the years, considering questions
about individuality and society, culture
and nature. The second will be a guide to
classical Chinese poetry, from a writer's
perspective, showing how classical Chinese
poetry is an ancient yet living literary-cultural
heritage.
Mr John Lin Chun-han, Associate Professor, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong
Mr Lin is an architect who works with a deep sense of historical, cultural and social context. He is a teacher's teacher, in that he has been mentor, colleague and collaborator across both academic and political boundaries. He is a pioneer of experiential learning. He has a vision of bridging a permeable divide between university education, professional practice, and community engagement, bringing groups of students to collaborate with him on a series of extraordinary architecture projects in rural China. In doing so, he has argued convincingly for inverting the traditional pyramid of university undergraduate education - putting practice before theory, and has shown how students bring insights from working in teams on real projects to their subsequent theoretical studies. The Selection Panel was particularly impressed by his leadership of HKU students and local villagers in rebuilding a historic bridge in Guizhou, which by all accounts is still standing.
Mr Lin plans to use the award fund to implement
two pilot projects to strengthen experiential
learning in inter-disciplinary curricular
programmes. The first will set up an inter-disciplinary
teaching facility in a rural village in
Guangdong; and the other is to set up multi-disciplinary,
inter-faculty programmes.
Dr Elaine Liu Suk-ching, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong
Dr Liu is a passionate and committed teacher who empowers students by creating out-of-classroom, service-learning opportunities for them to help and serve the community. Drawing on her previous professional experience as a school youth social worker and as a relief social worker in a Vietnamese refugee camp, she encourages the self-discovery and development of students through volunteer work. She has launched the City-Youth Empowerment Project (CYEP), which has helped thousands of students to develop self-confidence, leadership skills, social values and a sense of empowerment. She has also served as the Residence Master of the Jockey Club Humanity Hall at City University of Hong Kong, living the life of teacher and leader every day with 341 undergraduate students.
Dr Liu plans to use her award grant to expand the successful CYEP project across several universities in Hong Kong, fostering inter-university collaboration on service-learning initiatives.
Annex B
Selection Criteria of the 2014 UGC Teaching Award
Selection Criteria
All nominees for the Award were assessed based on the following three criteria -
(a) Adoption of learner-centred approaches,
ability to engage/inspire/impact on students
and demonstration of superior classroom
acumen, which may include a good understanding
of pedagogy, understanding how students
learn and adopting suitable teaching and
assessment approaches that can achieve better
student learning outcomes; being able to
interact with students and engage them in
learning with enthusiasm; inspiring and
supporting students, with respect for their
diverse learning needs, to build confidence
and capability (including critical thinking,
analytical skills, values, etc.); and outstanding
classroom (as well as outside-classroom)
teaching.
(b) Course/programme/curriculum design
that can reflect a command of the field,
which may include demonstrating up-to-date
knowledge of the field of study in the design
of the curriculum and student learning resources
(e.g., textbooks, e-learning resources)
and adopting complementary research-informed
teaching practices; and developing appropriate
student learning outcomes and adopting innovative
approaches to teaching and assessment which
can facilitate students' achievement of
the learning outcomes.
(c) Past/present achievement(s) and leadership in teaching and potential scholarly contribution to and impact on the development of effective teaching practice within his/her own institution and/or in other institutions, which may include demonstrating educational research and innovations in the field of study; and demonstrating leadership in the promotion of teaching excellence within the institution and/or in other institutions.
The three criteria carried no specified
weighting. The Selection Panel considered
each nomination on its own merit with reference
to the criteria.
Composition of the Selection Panel
Professor William Kirby (Chairperson)
T M Chang Professor of China Studies
and Spangler Family Professor of Business
Administration
Harvard University, USA
Member of the University Grants Committee
Professor Paul Blackmore
Director of King's Learning Institute
and Professor of Higher Education
King's College London, UK
International Expert of the Selection Panel
Mr Tommy Cheung Pak-hong
Principal
Munsang College (Hong Kong Island)
Member of the University Grants Committee
Professor Adrian Dixon
Master of Peterhouse and Emeritus Professor
of Radiology
University of Cambridge, UK
Member of the University Grants Committee
and Quality Assurance Council
Professor Alan Lau Kin-tak
Associate Dean (Industrial Relations)
of Faculty of Engineering and Professor
of Department of Mechanical Engineering
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Awardee of the 2013 UGC Teaching Award