UGC honours teaching excellence and celebrates launch of Hong Kong Teaching Excellence Alliance (with photos)
The following is issued on behalf of the University Grants Committee:
The University Grants Committee (UGC) held a presentation ceremony for the 2019 UGC Teaching Award today (October 10) to honour academics of the UGC-funded universities for their outstanding teaching performance and achievements, as well as their leadership and scholarly contributions to teaching and learning within and across universities. At the ceremony, the Hong Kong Teaching Excellence Alliance (HKTEA) initiated by the UGC was also launched.
The recipients of the 2019 UGC Teaching Award are:
General Faculty Members
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Dr Tushar Chaudhuri, Associate Head, Department of Government and International Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University
Early Career Faculty Members
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Professor Darwin Lau, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Teams
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The Common Core@HKU: Transdisciplinarity-in-Action Team of the University of Hong Kong, led by Professor Gray Kochhar-Lindgren (Director of Common Core) with Dr Xiao Hu (Associate Professor, Faculty of Education), Professor Gina Marchetti (Professor, School of Humanities (Comparative Literature)), Mr Matthew Pryor (Associate Professor (Teaching) and Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning), Faculty of Architecture) and Dr Julian Tanner (Associate Professor and Associate Director (Teaching and Learning), School of Biomedical Sciences; Assistant Dean, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine) as team members
The citations of the awardees are in Annex 1.
At the ceremony, the other finalists (in alphabetical order) for 2019 were also announced:
Mr David Bishop, Principal Lecturer of the Faculty of Business and Economics, the University of Hong Kong
Dr Kennedy Chan, Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong
Professor Sidharth Jaggi, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Engineering, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Inter-institutional Team for the AIE-AR Project led by Dr Eva Wong (Director, Centre for Holistic Teaching and Learning, Hong Kong Baptist University) with Professor Cheung Siu-yin (Professor, Department of Sport and Physical Education, Hong Kong Baptist University), Professor Kong Siu-cheung (Director, Centre for Learning, Teaching and Technology, the Education University of Hong Kong), Professor Paul Lam (Associate Professor, Centre for Learning Enhancement and Research, the Chinese University of Hong Kong) and Mr Andrew Morrall (Senior Lecturer, English Language Centre, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University) as team members
The Chairman of the UGC, Mr Carlson Tong, congratulated the awardees, finalists and nominees on their accomplishments, and thanked the UGC-funded universities for their support for the UGC Teaching Award. Mr Tong said, "The UGC recognises teaching excellence in the sector and has always encouraged and supported universities in striving for continuous improvement of the learning experiences for our students." He remarked that the presentation ceremony of the UGC Teaching Award is an annual celebratory event for good teaching in the UGC sector.
The three recipients of the 2019 UGC Teaching Award were selected from seven finalists among 19 outstanding nominees through a rigorous process undertaken by a Selection Panel convened by Professor Jan Thomas. The selection criteria and the composition of the Selection Panel for the 2019 UGC Teaching Award are in Annex 2.
When announcing the results of this year's UGC Teaching Award, Professor Thomas said, "The Selection Panel was truly impressed by the nominees' commitment to students and their learning. Their teaching approaches, innovation and leadership have enhanced students' learning experience."
To further emphasise the importance of quality teaching and enhance the impact of the UGC Teaching Award, the UGC has initiated the HKTEA, which is a network for UGC Teaching Award fellows, and provided funding support for its operations. The Executive Committee of the HKTEA is chaired by Professor Isabella Poon, and members include Dr Elaine Au, Dr Jason Chan and Professor Daniel Shek. They, together with Professor Alice Chong, also served on the Preparatory Committee of the HKTEA. Speaking at the ceremony, Professor Poon said, "The HKTEA will not only serve as a network for UGC Teaching Award fellows, but will also connect teaching staff in the higher education sector for the promotion of good teaching."
The presentation ceremony was well attended by UGC members, representatives of the UGC-funded universities including their Council Chairmen and Presidents/Vice-Chancellors, and those nominated for the award.
