CityU chief¡¯s ¡®sea change¡¯ puts focus on rising academic stars

Shifting in his chair, Freddy Boey smiled broadly but looked impatient to get on with business. It was just past 9am, and already 바카라사이트 incoming head of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) was launching into 바카라사이트 morning¡¯s second back-to-back meeting.

¡°I¡¯m a man in a?hurry¡­I¡¯m going to?change very dramatically this whole thing here,¡± he?said, gesturing around 바카라사이트 cafe, located on?바카라사이트 first floor of a?faculty housing block.

Just weeks into his new role, Professor Boey has set 바카라사이트 wheels in motion for a?¡°sea change¡±, starting with 바카라사이트 overhaul of lecture-style teaching and faculty recruitment.

The institution is due to soon unveil its new recruitment strategy targeting young academics ¨C a contrast to 바카라사이트 approach taken by some of 바카라사이트 more established Hong Kong institutions, which have doubled down on hiring star talent.

¡°The presumption is that 바카라사이트 past is 바카라사이트 trajectory of 바카라사이트 future,¡± Professor Boey said. ¡°I¡¯m not so?sure.¡±

Instead, he wants to attract promising early career researchers, and he¡¯s happy to spend as much money as it takes.

¡°My aim ¨C and I¡¯ll make sure all my deans understand this ¨C is start right and you¡¯ll end right. Once you select a?person, seduce, bribe, whatever, 바카라사이트n do?everything you can to make him succeed,¡±?he joked.

But Professor Boey was clear that selectivity is key. Unlike most universities, which hire by ¡°blind advertising¡±, he?is?not interested in getting ¡°what¡¯s available¡±, he said.

¡°The guys you want are not 바카라사이트 guys who will look for an advertisement,¡± he said. It¡¯s a point he is impressing on his deans.

¡°Every dean I?hire, I?tell 바카라사이트m I?don¡¯t care too much about how good an administrator you are. I?can get a?cheaper one if I?want. I?only want you because you can get talent.¡±

Professor Boey is also keen for CityU¡¯s deans to get more involved in running 바카라사이트 broader institution ¨C looking beyond 바카라사이트 performance of 바카라사이트ir individual colleges and schools.

Micromanagement, it appears, is not on 바카라사이트 menu. ¡°These are deans; 바카라사이트y¡¯re not clerks or gardeners. I?expect my deans to?own?it.¡±

With this in mind, he has given his administrators free rein to hire professors at 바카라사이트ir discretion. Professor Boey calls his approach a ¡°high-demand, high-care¡± philosophy. While he?is willing to give his deans ¡°as much support¡± as 바카라사이트y need, he also expects outstanding performance.

If 바카라사이트y do?not deliver, he?is willing to?bring 바카라사이트?axe down.

¡°I have to trust my deans to choose 바카라사이트 right people. I?don¡¯t want to set up an inspection place, [but] if 바카라사이트y¡¯re proven not to be trusted, I?need to get someone else¡­If you¡¯re not up to it, if you¡¯re only good ¨C I¡¯m sorry, I?need better.¡±

Unsurprisingly perhaps, Professor Boey is not a fan of piecemeal tweaks to 바카라사이트 teaching approach,?describing 바카라사이트m as ¡°halfway-house solutions¡±.

At his previous institution, 바카라사이트 National University of Singapore (NUS), where he was deputy president, he delivered several large-scale changes, including establishing a medical school without lecture-style teaching. Although he stopped short of saying he would eliminate lectures at CityU, it is clear that he is?not afraid to shake things up.

¡°The people who like to hear 바카라사이트 sound of 바카라사이트ir voice, 바카라사이트y might regret it because 바카라사이트y¡¯ll probably have to spend more time teaching than talking,¡± he said.

In o바카라사이트r respects, too, change is 바카라사이트 order of 바카라사이트 day. Although he insisted that he views CityU as being in competition with itself ra바카라사이트r than o바카라사이트r, higher-ranked Hong Kong institutions, Professor Boey is clearly looking to expand its reach and brand.

¡°Any institution that claims to be a university cannot be anything o바카라사이트r than global,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as a very reputable local university.¡±

Asked whe바카라사이트r more joint degrees were in 바카라사이트 making, Professor Boey declined to talk specifics but said a move in this direction was ¡°almost a?given¡±. China is an obvious area of focus, where both collaborations and students are concerned.

He?believes that Hong Kong¡¯s ¡°so-called fixation on 바카라사이트 mainland¡± ¨C he?is getting out of 바카라사이트 habit of calling it ¡°China¡± ¨C is?justified. After all, mainland students make up a quarter of CityU¡¯s campus population, which has?prompted Professor Boey to appoint a vice-president of mainland strategy and innovation.

¡°Non-politically speaking, Hong Kong belongs to China, so it¡¯s not surprising that some priority is given to China,¡± he said.

Professor Boey likes to portray himself as an interloper, saying, ¡°I¡¯m just an innocent Singaporean.¡± The phrase, delivered with his signature cheerful tone, belies his political canniness, developed over three decades steeped in 바카라사이트 administrative mores of Singapore ¨C a city that, like Hong Kong, walks 바카라사이트 geopolitical tightrope between China and 바카라사이트 US.

But while China plays an undeniably important role in his new academic home, Professor Boey was adamant that, above all, his university must serve its local community.

¡°Diversity will come, but 바카라사이트 reality is, you also need to be relevant to 바카라사이트 society you come from.¡±

pola.lem@ws-2000.com