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The following is issued on behalf of the University Grants committee:
The University Grants Committee (UGC) announced today (February 28) the launch of the first round of the UGC Teaching Award (the Award).
"The UGC attaches great importance to quality teaching and learning, which is the core mission and duty of all UGC-funded institutions. The 'Aspirations for the Higher Education System in Hong Kong' report also emphasised the need to revitalise teaching. The Award, which aims to honour those who excel in teaching in the UGC sector, is an important step to this end," said Mrs Laura M Cha, Chairman of the UGC.
Mrs Cha said, "The awardees will become 'ambassadors of good teaching', collectively making a real and sustained impact in promoting teaching excellence in the UGC sector. The Award is therefore pitched at a high level and is going to be very selective, with a maximum of three awardees in this round.
"Each awardee will be given a grant of $500,000 for undertaking learning and teaching-related initiatives that will not only benefit the awardee's institution but also the entire UGC sector," added the UGC Chairman.
Echoing the Chairman, Professor Edmond Ko, Convenor of the sub-group established under the UGC to develop the assessment criteria of the Award, said, "The selection will be very vigorous, and based on both paper-based assessments and interviews by a selection panel.
"All nominations will be assessed based on four criteria which represent important aspects of teaching, including the adoption of learner-centred approaches, curriculum design, scholarly activities in learning and teaching and scholarly contribution to the development of effective teaching practice. These criteria have been worked out with reference to local and prestigious overseas teaching awards, as well as taking into account the comments of UGC-funded institutions," Professor Ko added.
The UGC will invite two nominations from each UGC-funded institution, which will then be considered by a selection panel comprising local and overseas members of the UGC and the Quality Assurance Council, as well as an external overseas expert. The results of the Award are expected to be announced in September 2011.
Mrs Cha said, "We are thankful to all UGC-funded institutions for their support and constructive comments which were most useful in working out the Award's structure and selection criteria. We very much look forward to receiving their nominations for this Award."
Note:
A fact sheet on the structure and selection criteria of the Award is at the Annex.
Ends/Monday, February 28, 2011
Issued at HKT 18:06
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