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THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOlOGY

1I''IIW'*!j!

Countdown from 25 July to first teaching day

69

THE HONG KONG UNIVE~SITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

12/F, World Shipping Centre, 7 Canton P-ood, Kowloon, Hong Kong

THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:

MOVING INTO CLEAR WATER BAY CAMPUS

JULY 1991

DAYS '''' "ith the magic date of2 October swiftly approaching, HKUST is taking shape on every front- from campus con-struction to faculty recruitment and student admissions.

Phase I buildings are nearing completion. The external scaffolding has come down; wiring is installed; water flows through the pipes; and workers are laying carpet and painting walls. The mUlti-purpose sports hall functions temporarily as a warehouse and will be filled with equipment and furniture waiting to be installed. Waves of trucks will soon deliver the magnificent

and the mundane--centrifuges, microscopes, and computers for the labs; beds, desks, and chairs for the halls of residence; cookers, counters, and cups and saucers for the canteen; and much, much more.

Even now some 100 HKUST staff report to work on campus rather than to Harbour City. Staff of the Computing and Telecommunications Centre, together with Digital Equipment Corporation, have installed the fibre optic cables of the computer network, and have begun installing the Ethernet subnet. Estates Man­agement personnel attend classes on site, learning to operate the computerised system which controls all building services from air conditioning to elevators. A contract has been signed for an HKUST shuttle bus service, and a caterer has

been chosen to operate the staff and student canteens. Mean­while back in Harbour City, staff prepare to move desks, files, and potted plants to their new offices. By I September all staff should be permanently ensconced on the Clear Water Bay campus.

Meanwhile, the academic aspects of the University are pro­gressing at a comparable rate. Faculty recruitment is on target; . a full complement of staff are on board, preparing lectures and planning labs for the classes which begin on October 2. The Office of Admissions has sent firm offers to students who will be in those lectures and labs.

Taking one day at a time with eager anticipation and cau­tious excitement, HKUST is preparing to move home. 0

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PROGRESS REPORT FROM THE VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRESIDENT

COUNTDOWN Classes will begin on 2 October 1991 ,

almost exactly three years after you received our first Newsletter.

Sometime this month, Government ' s Building Authority will issue an occu­pation permit for the Uni versity' s Phase I academic complex. Detailed fitting­out work will proceed in earnest. By the end of July , Phase I in its entirety will be handed over to HKUST by the project team under the management of The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Cl ub . The big move from the University ' s temporary offices in down­town Kowloon will then be on, continuing throughout the month of August. Barely one month will be left for final preparations before the arrival of our first students.

Thus the three-year incubation period comes to a hectic but happy end. This Newsletter represents our last communication to you from off-campus.

The shortfall in the 1991192 recurrent budget, as reported to you in our last Newsletter, is now temporarily contained. Having sensed the coming crisis, we curtailed spending in the preceding budget period - with the hope that Government would permit us to carryover the savings. We are now happy to report that, thanks to the Education and Manpower Branch (EMB) and the University and Polytechnic Grants Committee (UPGC), carry-over has been approved. Thus, to the extent described in my previous Report , the University will be able to weather its first budget crisis without suffering irreparable damage. It has been a baptism of fire.

In the life of any organisation, budgetary processes never end. However, it's rare that one would have to work on four recurrent budgets at the same time. We did just that: winding up the April 1990-March 1991 period, controlling April-June 1991 expendi­tures to maximise savings (over a strange three-month budget period that resulted from a mismatch offiscal years as the Univer­sity was transferred from EMB to UPGC) , reducing July 1991-June 1992 funding requests, and drafting the July 1992-June 1995 triennium budget for submission to UPGC by the end of June. What a learning experience for professional and novice budgeteers alike!

Guided by Hong Kong's economic reality and the University ' s initial experience with UPGC, we have worked out a triennium budget which is conservative (some would say too conservative) , and yet viable if allowed to stand. Through long discussions and many iterations the Administration , closely advised by Council Committees, made sure that our requests are compatible with like expenditures in sister universities as start-up requirements phase out. Our fate now rests in the hands of UPGe.

The 1991/92 budget provides a staff establishment of 120 teach­ing and 648 non-teaching posts . Of the teaching staff, 90 are ex­pected to be in post in the first semester; the remainder will come on board during the second. The so-called "non-teaching staff', following UPGC's accounting format, includes 13 senior academic administrators and 8 language instructors .

As of late June, all these academic administrative posts and lan­guage instructorships have been filled. A total of 83 teaching staff have been recruited; all except a small handful have formally signed up . In addition, several are engaged in final stages of negotiation . Since a small fraction of the staff establishment must always be reserved for "expected savings" , our first-round aca­demic recruitment is essentially complete.

Practically all of our professorial appointees have served as full professors or equivalent at major research universities andlor in­dustrial laboratories. They are in the prime of their academic careers, and are internationally recognised .

All of our lecturers have the doctoral degree; many have post­doctoral experience. In terms of doctoral and postdoctoral training, the major "suppliers" of our younger faculty are the University of California, University of Illinois, MIT, Oxford, and Princeton . It is particularly heart-warming to note that included among the lec­turers are many Hongkongers returning home without the insur­ance of foreign passports or the benefit of "ex pat terms" .

In the first competition for research grants held by Government's newly appointed Research Grants Council, HKUST faculty won 18 grants against a quota of 20 proposals , representing a success rate of 90% - far above the territory-wide average. This offers re­assurance that the University's faculty recruitment has proceeded in the right direction .

PRESIDENT'S ADVISORY BOARD Though international and sophisticated, Hong Kong is still but

one city , liable to lose sight of the world's many diverse leading­edge developments. We need to observe global mega-trends in technology and management, learn how other major research uni­versities respond to such trends, and constantly expand our inter­national network. To achieve these aims, we depend on leaders of science, technology , industry, and commerce from different parts of the world for guidance.

I have engaged in pulling together such a group of distinguished world citizens to form a President's Advisory Board for HKUST. The Board will meet once a year in Hong Kong, as well as respond to queries by mail as needs arise (more likely by fax and e-mail). The following persons have consented to serve for an initial term of two years :

-from the EUROPEAN COMMUNITY Prof. Paolo Maria Fasella, Director-General for Research,

Science and Development, and of the Joint Research Centre, Commission of the European Communities

- froll1 the PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA Prof. Zhou Guangzhao, President, Chinese Academy of

Sciences

- from TAIWAN Dr Morris Chang, Chairman, Industrial Technology Research

Institute Dr K. T. Li, Senior Advisor to the President

- contil1l1ed on page 3 -

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

HEAD DIVISION OF HUMANITIES AND PROFESSOR OF HISTORY

Professor Hong HSU

(徐泓 教授 )

Chinese history scholar Professor Hong HSU has been appointed Head of the Division ofHumanities and Professor of History .

Born in Fujian Provinc巴 ， Professor Hsu received his education in Taiwan . He attended National Taiwan University wher巴 he earned a BA , MA , and PhD in History. Lmmediately upon graduating he assumed a post in the University 's History Department as an Associate Professor. He became a full professor in 1980, and Chairman of the Department in 1985.

During hi s careel\Professor Hsu has held visiting positions in the US , Europ巴， and Asia . H巳 was a Research Fellow at Harvard 's Harvard-Yenching Institute; a Visiting Scholar at Princeton; the Ming-Yu Visiting Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong; and Guest Professor at Freie Universitat Berlin. ln addition he has been Director ofthe Graduate Institute ofHistory since 1985 , and also th巴 Graduate Institute of Art History of National Taiwan University since 1989.

While covering a wide range of topics and periods in the hi story ofChina, Professor Hsu 's research and many publications focus on salt and its economic, social , and historical roles during the Ming and Ching Dynasties.

Professor Hsu is married with two children. 口

- cOlllillued 戶。川 page 2 ............ PROGRESS REPORT

-fl'OlII the UNfTED KfNGDOM Lord Flowers, Chairman, Committee on Science and

Technology in the House of Lords Lord Tombs, Chairman, Prime Minister' s Advisory Commit­

tee on Science and Technology; Chairman , Rolls-Royce

-fl'OlI/ the UNfTED STATES OF AMERfCA Prof. Donald Kennedy, Presidenl, Stanford University Prof. Yuan T. Lee, Nobel Laureate (Chemistry), Univer­

sity of California Berkeley Dr Walter E. Massey , Director, US National Science

Foundation Prof. Chang-Lin Tien , Chancellor, University of Cali­

fornia Berkeley

Three of Hong Kong's most prominent community leaders will join the Board to provide a local framework.

Mr Fumio Hashimoto, President, The Hong Kong Japa­nese Club; Director, The Bank of Tokyo, Ltd

The Hon. AIIen Lee, Senior Member of the Legislative Council; Member of the Executive Council; President, Meadville Ltd

Dr Helmut Sohmen , Chairman , World-Wide Shipping Agency Ltd 口

PROFESSOR DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

Professor George K. WONG

( 王克倫教授 )

Professor George K. WONG , formerly Professor in the Depart­ment of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University , has been appointed Professor in the Departm巴nt of Physics.

Born in Yunnan , Chi悶， Professor Wong grew up in Hong Kong and received his tertiary edllcation in the US. He holds a BS in Engineering Physics and a PhD in Physics , both from the University of California Berkeley. While at Berkeley , he was honoured as a Regents Scholar, a member of Phi Beta Kappa , and the recipient of a Whiting Fellowship. Professor Wong began his teaching and research career at Northwestern University as AssistantProfessorof Physics and Astronomy and became a fllll professor in 1989. He received an Alfred P. Sloan FOllndation Fellowship in 1976.

Professor Wong is a condensed matter physicist with a broad range of research inlerests. He has made important scientific conlributions to many research areas, including Iiquid crystals , non­linear optics, polymers, molecular beam 巴pitaxy ， Langmuir-Blodg­elt films, and semiconductors. PI叫essor Wong has published more than 70 papers and is a freque叫y invited speaker at major national and international symposia.

Professor Wong is married , and has four childl帥， two boys aged 16 and 10, and two girls aged 6 and 2 口

READER SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

Dr Cyril Z. LIN

(林 至 人博士)

Chinese economy specialist Dr Cyril Zhiren LIN has been appointed Reader in Chinese Studies.

Born in Manila of Chinese ancestry , Dr Lin I 巳ceived his BSc from the Massachusetts lnslitute of Technology , his MA from Harvard , and his DPhil from Oxford. He specialises in the mac­roeconomics and systemic transformations of socialist countries , and his research has focused on Chinese econornlc reforms , particu­larly as compared with Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union . He is a regular consultant to the Ford FOllndation , the World Bank , and various agencies of the United Nations. He initiated and directs a special intensive Economics Training Programme at Oxford 'de­signed to train Chinese academic and government econornlsts in Western macroeconomic managemen t. Dr Lin is Director of the Centre for the Mod巴rn Chinese Studies at Oxford and is also President of the ElIro-China Research Association ofManagement and Economics (ECRAME) . His hobbies ar巴 his two young chil­dren and collecting contemporary Chinese paintings . 口

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READER DEPARTJ\.位~NT OF ELECTRlCALAND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERlNG

Dr Philip C. CHAN

(陳正豪博士)

Dr Philip C. CHAN ofIntel Corporationjoins HKUST as Reader in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

Dr Chan was born in Shanghai, raised in Hong Kong, and educated at the tertiary level in the US. He earned his BS from the University of California Davis and an MS and PhD from the Uni­versity of Illinois, a11 in Electrical Engineering. After graduation he joined the faculty at the University of Ill inois bri巴fly ， th巳nmoved

into the p吋vat忱e sector as Principal Engine巴r and Program 恥Managerwith巾J戶抖川n削耐ltel Cor叩po叫iωon. Ash巴adofa t昀巴n心1卜-m巴岫er巴叩n巴巳ring t臼eam

his responsibilities included research, development, and support ac­tivities pertaining to circuit design. He joined the Micro Products Group in January 1990. His last assignment there was to initiate a programm巳 to develop computer-aided design tools for high per­formance multi-chip modules. ln addition , he developed and taught company training courses, and has been rated among lntel's top mstructors.

Dr Chan is married with two childr巳n.

LECTURER IN CHEMISTRY

Dr 明la-Hung LEUNG

(梁華雄博士)

1989 PhD University of Hong Kong (Chemistry) 1989-91 Postdoctoral Fellow , Dept of Chemistry ,

Imperial College

口

R巴search Interests: Synthesis of organo-imido complexes oftran sition metals, high-valent carbene and carbyne complexes of ruthenium and osmium.

LECTURER IN MATHEMA TICS

Dr Allanus Hak-Man TSOI

(蔡克敏博士)

1990 PhD University of Alberta (Statistics & Applied Probability)

1990 Research Associate, Dept of Statistics and Applied Probability , University of Albel1a

Research Interests: Malliavin calculus; semimartingale theory; jump processes; stochastic differential geome­try; stochastic processes in finance.

1991 PhD 1989-90

Research lnterests:

1988 PhD

1989-91

Research lnterests :

LECTURER IN GEOGRAPHY

Dr Rochelle Elizabeth BALL

(自樂詩博士)

University of Sydney (Human Geography) Visiting Fe11ow, Institute for Planning and lnternational Developme肘，Cornell University lnternational development and migration , particularly in Southeast Asia.

LECTURER IN ELECTRlCAL & ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

Dr Kwan Fai CHEUNG

(張軍輝博士)

University of Washington (Electrical Engineering) Lecturer, Dept of Information Engineering, Chinese University of Hong Kong Fuzzy n巳ural networks; digital signal processing; optical computing; statistical co口1叮\UntCatlOns.

ADMINISTRATIVE APPOINTMENTS

DIRECTOR ADMISSIONS, REGISTRA TION AND RECORDS OFFICE

Frederico E. CASTRO

(簡思道)

A native ofHong Kong with more than 15 years' experience in university administration , Mr Frederico E. CASTRO joined HKUST as Director of the Admissions, Registration and Records Office.

Mr Castro earned a BA in Modern Languages at the University of Hong Kong and an MA in Theoretical Linguistics at University of Reading. In 1974, he emigrated to Australia where he became Assistant Academic Registrar in a South Australian tertiary institu­tion. Two years later he joined Deakin University which was born from the merger of two tertiary institutions. Over his next 14 years at Deakin, Mr Castro held various positions from Administrative Officer in the School ofEducation to Stud巳nt Systems and Exami­nations Officer for the Student Centre; he completed a postgraduate Diploma in Computing, and helped set up a sophisticated Unix­based student management information system there. Having par­ticipated in the birth of D巳akin ， Mr Castro is looking forward to “ parallel experiences and challenges as part of the HKUST team."

Mr Castro is married with two children. 口

SCHOOL OF SCIENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

The HKUST School of Science Advisory Commit­tee met for the first time with the School's faculty members, 26-28 June. The Committee's role is to consult with and ad­vise the faculty on academic .issues that range from curric­ula and research programmes to resource and staffing re­quirements. Its 11 members are internationally renowned scientists and distinguished scholars, one of whom is a Nobel Laureate and one a Wolf Prize winner.

Prof. Donald D. Brown (Chairman), Dept of Embryology, Car­negie Inst. of Washington; Member of the U.S. National Academy of Science. Prof. Jack E. Baldwin, The Dysons Pen'ins Laboratory, U. of Oxford; Fellow of Royal Society. Prof. Sunney I. Chan, Dept of Chemistry, California Inst. of Technology; Fellow of Academia Sinica.

Dr Leroy L. Chang, Thomas J. Watson Research Center, IBM; Member of the U.S . Na­tional Academy of Engineers. Prof. Edward C.D. Cocking, Dept of Botany, U. of Notting­ham; Fellow of Royal Society. Prof. Yuen-Ron Shen, Dept of Physics, U. of California Berkeley; Fellow of Academia Sinica.

Prof. Yum-Tong Siu, Dept of Mathematics, Harvard U. Prof. John T. Stuart, Dept of Mathematics, Imperial College of Science & Technology; U. of London; Fellow of Royal Society. Prof. Ray J. Wu, Dept of Biochemistry, Cornell u.; Fellow of Academic Sinica. Prof. Shang-Fa Yang, Mann Laboratory, U. of California Davis; Member of the U.S . National Academy of Science, Wolf Prize. Prof. Chen Ning Yang, Inst. for Theoretical Physics, State U. of NY; Nobel Prize in Physics, Member of the U.S. National Aca­demy of Science, Fellow of Academia Sinica. 0

HKUST IN ACTION

• HKUST faculty and admin­istrative staff met the Chan­cellor of the University, Governor Sir David Wilson, at a cocktail reception hosted by the Hon. Stephen Cheong Kam-chuen, Chairman of the Appointments Commit­tee of the University Coun­cil, on 15 April. Pictured here are Prof. Thomas Stel­son (Pro-VC-Research & Development), the Hon. Stephen Cheong, Vice-Chancellor Woo, and the Governor.

• The Biology Depart­ment hosted a tea re­ception on 1 May for 40 of its most out­standing 1992-93 undergraduate appli­cants. Here Acting Department Head Prof. Ernest Chu gets to know the students over tea and biscuits.

• UPGC institutions, in­cluding HKUST, or­ganised a postgraduate studies symposium and exhibition at the newly­opened Science Mu-

• In the most massive inter­viewing exercise HKUST has undertaken, some 4000 students met individually with HKUST staff mem­bers, 25-29 April, as the fIrst step in the undergradu­

seum, 24-26 May. Entitled "Learning for the Future", the exhibition included exhibits, forums, and counselling sessions. Here, heads of the seven institu­tions speak at the opening forum.

ate admissions exercise for 1992-93. These students were se­lecte~ from roughly 11,000 who applied for the 1040 places to be available in October 1992. Here Prof. Nelson Cue describes op­portunities in Physics to an applicant.

BUILDING THE UNIVERSITY

The Designers and Consultants Talk About Their Work

"It ' s the most complex building we've ever done." " It's the fastest thing we've ever been involved with." " It ' s state-of-the-art." " I doubt very much whether it could have been done (as fast)

anywhere else." These are the words of the men who have led the design teams

of the massive and complex structure that will house HKUST. They have strong feelings about a project that has both challenged and frustrated them. And well they should; they have worked at full tilt for the past three-and-a-half years to meet what at times seemed to be an impossible deadline.

Below is a brief introduction to the architectural and . engineering consultant teams and their work. It is thanks

to them that HKUST will be a "state-of-the-art" , research facility.

Simon Kwan & Associates Ltd/ Percy Thomas Partnership UK

Simon Kwan & Associates and Percy Thomas Partnership (PTP) joined forces to design HKUST. Simon K wan & Associates was responsible for the project ' s architectural design and building and contract administration. PTP drew up the project ' s three-phase master plan and designed the inside of the academic building.

Architect Simon Kwan considers the opportunity to design an entire university "very, very rare". Typically a university campus evolves over decades, even centuries. The march of time is natu­rally reflected in the architectural styles of the different buildings.

But one of the challenges of HKUST, Simon K wan says, was to design an entire campus, a family of buildings for a planned popUlation of 10,000 students.

"Designing one building is easy , but a whole group is difficult , because each building in the group needs to be in harmony with the others and yet each needs to perform a different function, " Simon Kwan says.

The Hong Kong-born and trained architect says , "Building is three-dimensional art, something like a functional sculpture."

Like a sculptor, Simon Kwan is obsessed with form. Evidence of this can be seen in the bold geometry of HKUST's academic building, in its strong semi-circular entrance, which fits neatly into a massive rectangle of a building.

HKUST's monumental entrance was Simon Kwan ' s version of Venice's San Marcos square, a grand meeting place where people of all disciplines converge. The entrance is dressed with a facade that has been punched full of rectangular and square holes and one triangular hole. The concrete facade , which forms a contemporary­looking arcade, breaks down the monumentality of the university ' S entrance.

Not conscious of any particular architectural style, Simon K wan wants his buildings to reflect the times in which they were built.

HKUST is certainly a campus of its time. The curtain glass walls , cantilevers, large span structures, bright colours, plain

facades and even the unusual-shaped holes punched into the concrete are all contemporary design and construction techniques.

As you walk through the campus, each building reveals some­thing of its purpose. The chimneys sit atop the laboratories, balcony planters adorn staff housing, large windows span the library. Simon Kwan calls it "automatic story-telling".

Says the architect of the Hong Kong Academy for Pelforming Arts, "I've never designed a building with so many different uses ."

Schools

Research Centre

Laboratories and Workshops

"Percy Thomas has concentrated on the master plan of the aca­demic building and the design and the layout of the academic build­ing," says Peter Hughes , the partner in charge ofPTP' s design team for HKUST.

"We concentrated on the inside of the building. We were respon­sible for the planning, layout and the equipment of the rooms," Peter Hughes says.

PTP brings considerable expertise in university planning to the HKUST project. The UK-based firm has designed four major UK universities as well as Hong Kong's City Polytechnic.

"This is the largest project we ' ve done for very many years," Peter Hughes says. "In terms of speed, it's the fastest thing we ' ve ever been involved with ."

It was PTP' s job to successfully fit together classrooms, faculty offices, teaching and research laboratories in a workable manner.

"There is a link between schools, research and teaching labora­tories that has to be worked out so you can actually feel that the professors can dash into their research labs and do their experi­ments but equally have easy access to their day-to-day teaching re­quirements .

"That is the whole fundamental point of tomorrow ' s university .. .. You put it all under one roof and link it all together in spaces that can be interchangeable," Peter Hughes says. Ove Arup & Partners

Ove Arup & Partners is a leading engineering firm founded in the UK in 1946 by the late Danish engineer Ove Arup. It was Ove Arup ' s structural genius that enabled the design of the Sydney Opera House to be realised . Ove Arup' s firm has continued to make its mark; in Hong Kong it worked with architect Norman Foster on The Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank building, which has been called the epitome of High Tech architecture, a style that celebrates technology.

Ove Arup & Partners was contracted to carry out all the civil, structural and acoustical engineering for the HKUST project.

"We designed the skeleton of the building," says Robin Forster, Ove Arup ' s project director.

The seemingly straightforward task was complicated by a number of factors. Foundation work was tricky as the entire site is volcanic and in various stages of decomposition. The site is also steep, ranging from sea level to 120 metres at the main entrance plaza.

The academic building's structure has not one, but three different column grids in order to meet the building's variety of uses. Support columns in the library are 9 metres apart, enabling the structure to withstand heavy loading from book stor­age. In the schools ' rooms they are 12 metres apart, and in the laboratories, col­umns are 18 metres apart, allowing for optimum Oexibility and use of space.

• Architectl/ral alld ellgilleerillg COIISI/lfallt tealll leaders (left to right): Peter G. HI/ghes of Percy ThaI/las Partllership HK; SilllOIl Kwall of SilllOI1 Kwall & Associates; Robert Moakes of j. Roger Prestoll & Partllers.

In the second phase of the academic building, the Ove Arup team has designed a laboratory where researchers can mechani­cally shake building parts to test for earthquake design without shaking their neighbours above them. The key design element is the laboratory Ooor; it is reactive.

"Generally speaking this type of Ooor is built away from any other sensitive areas ofa university . We' re actually building this di­rectly underneath various floors of the research laboratories," Robin Forster says. J Roger Preston & Partners

Another veteran from The Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank build­ing is the mechanical and electrical engineering firm of J Roger Preston & Partners (JRP).

JRP designed all of HKUST's highly sophisticated building services systems.

Robert Moakes, the partner in charge of the HKUST project,

says building services provide " the environment which allows the building to function whether it's from a people point of view or an

equipment point of view." Nearly 70 ofthe firm's engineers were

involved in designing the campus's air­conditioning, mechanical ventilation, electrical services , the plumbing and drainage, fire protection and alarm, lift and escalator, computerised building management and security systems.

Fundamental to JRP's building serv­ices design was the use of seawater to re­move heat from the academic building. JPR's innovative centralised plant sub­mission employing indirect seawater cooling was judged by an independent assessor as the most energy and cost ef­fective solution.

JRP designed the specialist piped and electrical services for the laboratory workbenches and the exhaust systems associated with fume cupboards.

The air-conditioning system is de­signed to compensate changes in a lab's air supply when the fume cupboards are in use. When researchers are working

with nasty chemicals in the labs, for example, they switch on fume cupboards to expel the resultant fumes from the labs. As there may not be enough air in the room to satisfy the exhaust requirement, a valve on a local supply Variable Air Volume, or VA V, unit auto­matically opens, allowing more air into the room whenever the cup­board is switched on. More air may mean the lab gets too cool. The lab's thermostat can't adjust the temperature, however, because it has been overridden by the fume cupboard. Instead, the computer control station monitoring the temperatures in the given laboratory's zone automatically resets the air supply temperature to all rooms in that zone in order to restore the air temperature in the critical lab.

This isjust one of a myriad of problems JRP's engineers had to tackle when designing the building services systems, which Robert Moakes refers to as the academic building's lifeblood. 0

COMMUNITY COMMENTS

More than three months before classes for r巴gular students begin , the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology presented its first educational prograrnrne in Hong Kong. This executive education programrne,‘Managing the Information Resource,' was co­sponsored by the School of Business and Management (HKUST) , the Anderson Graduate School of Management (UCLA) and Nolan Norton & Co. From the opening dinner on Sunday, 26 May , through the final session on Friday , a group of more than 40 senior managers participated in lectures, seminars, group discussions , and informal gatherings. Students w巴re given weighty materials and assigned read­ings, and groups met into the late hours of the night preparing ‘cases' for discussion.

Presenting an educational discussion of such complex topics in a week requires a different approach to teaching than would be appropriate in a more conventional classroom. The lecturers relied on their boundless energy and generous doses of humour to get their points across and make them memorable. The ‘case study ' method was employed to get students discussing the issues outside of class and working together in class to understand them. This method of instruction is a comerstone of modem business education, and wi l\ be used in some of the classes offered by HKUST's School of Business and Management.

Jane Chung Regional Director - Special Projects DHL International Ltd

The executive education programme “Managing the Information Resource" was very timely. Business managers and infor­mation technology professionals alike are facing tremendous cha l\enges as they seek to harness technology to serve business.

They are bombarded with vendor promises, visions of a paper­less future , andjargon-filled technical information. The oft-touted success stories leave them with the impression that som巳wherethere is a magic key which wi l\ lead them to the nirvana of ‘usmg technology to achieve competitive advantage'.

The reality is somewhat differen t. Many large businesses today are having significant difficulty in managing their technology

John Lee ( 李錫生)Mallagement Se叩ices Manager Standard Chartered Bank

There is a widespread demand to give the IT [information technology] practitioners, especial\y the managers, continuous educa­tion in how to position their IT organisations strategical\y and to exploit the technology to the comrnercial benefit of the business.

In the past few years, in order to achieve the above, th巳 Bankhadto rely on overseas sources, primarily in the USA and UK. Most of the executive education programmes organised by local institu-

initiatives. This is exacerbated by the gap often seen between the technology managers and the rest of the business.

For me the major benefit of the HKUST course is the material that was provided to bridge this gap. Case studies gave examples of common problems. Ways offormulating requests for significant levels of expenditure over extended time periods were provided. The forces shaping the IT organisation today were clearly pre­sented. Methods of identifying and quantifying the opportunities were suggested. Information on current trends and technologies was glven.

The speakers obviously knew their subjects-they were infor­mative, interesting, and on several occasions entertaining. This was not a dry , academic course. It was one which was as relevant to the business manager as to the technical manager. As such it could play a significant role in bridging the gap between business and technology in Hong Kong. 口

tions were either too generic or too academic to b巳 of any practical use for a comrnercial entity such as ourselves.

The partnership of HKUST and UCLA has facilitated the flow of expert knowledge on management into Hong Kong and their first programrne actually focused on “Managing the Information Resource" , a topic which is so timely and yet so lacking in Hong Kong.

Thirteen of our managers from various IT organisations in the Asia-Pacific region attended the programrne and their comrnents on its effectiveness have al\ been very favourable. The Bank would definitely Iike to see more speakers and management programmes of similar quality brought to Hong Kong by HKUST. 口