External advisors counsel DHSS-Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences

The DHSS Advisory Board Committee

The Division of Humanities and Social Sciences (DHSS) at UIC held the first meeting of its Advisory Board Committee on 12 September. Prof. Leo Ou-Fan Lee, Sin Wai Kin Professor of Chinese Culture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, chaired the Committee.

Besides the internal members Prof. Mei-Hwa Sung and Prof. Evelyn Mai, Dean and Associate Dean of DHSS, the meeting was attended by five external advisors, who are experienced professionals, entrepreneurial leaders and an educational official.

		The external members were Mr. Shui-lai Ng, Honorary President of the Hong Kong Social Workers Association; Dr. Yijun Zhong, Director of the Zhuhai Municipal Education Bureau; Prof. Tain-Dow Lee, Founder of the Research Institute for Media Technology and Creative Industries; Ms. May Chan, Director of News & Public Affairs at Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Co., Ltd.; and Mr. Lee C.H. Li, Chairman of Lee’s Consulting Co., Ltd.
Prof. Leo Ou-Fan Lee presides over the meeting

Prof. Ng Ching-Fai, President of UIC, said he was delighted to have these outstanding individuals counsel DHSS for its future development. “One of UIC’s missions is to diversify China’s tertiary education by promoting Liberal Arts Education and Whole Person Education. You are all remarkable in various fields, and I hope you would facilitate this liberal arts college to improve itself and accomplish its missions,” he said to the Committee.

Prof. Mei-Hwa Sung and the eight Programme Directors (PD) of DHSS then introduced the Division and programmes in the meeting, including the updates of faculty members, curriculum setting and so forth.


Prof. Evelyn Mai, Associate Dean and PD of Cinema and Television Programme	Dr. Edith Yan, PD of Teaching English as a Second Language Programme	Dr. Charles Lowe, PD of Contemporary English Language and Literature Programme;	Dr. Kenneth Lan, PD of Government and International Relations Programme


Dr. Joanne Gula, PD of Public Relations and Advertising Programme	Mr. Yiu-Fai Ng, Lecturer (on behalf of Prof. Johnston Wong, PD of Social Work and Social Administration Programme)	Dr. Dawn Tsang, PD of Applied Translation Studies Programme	Dr. Edgar Yuen, PD of International Journalism Programme

The external advisors got early insights into UIC and the Division, and offered pieces of valuable advice.

		Prof. Tain-Dow Lee believed that a liberal arts college should well position itself in order to achieve the educational goals. “A liberal arts education is not the same as vocational education and training, and thus only teaching disciplinary knowledge is far from enough. A college need integrate its education with the local resources to make the liberal arts education a reality.”
Prof. Tain-Dow Lee suggests how to practise a liberal arts education

		As a veteran in the advertising industry, Mr. Lee C.H. Li understood the importance of critical thinking and multi-discipline knowledge for a student. The future of students decides whether a college succeeds, he added.
Mr. Lee C.H. Li says practice is very significant in the advertising industry

Prof. Mei-Hwa Sung told the committee members that eight years ago, UIC was built in Zhuhai, in the vicinity of Macau and Hong Kong - a location which benefits the College by enabling the introduction of international resources. With years of development, its unique educational philosophy has been helping the College to connect closely with society.

Under the new curriculum, students in the first academic year do not take specialised courses but focus more on general education and knowledge from a range of disciplines. Prof. Sung hoped more enterprises would establish partnerships with UIC to offer its students internship opportunities and boost their theoretical knowledge.

Reporter: Deen He
Photographers: Vivi Xie and Deen He
(from MPRO, with special thanks to the ELC)