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activities and services for UST faculty members, instructors, teaching assistants, students and school teachers.
• The Teaching Technologies Team oversees the technologies that are applied to teaching and learning.
• The Instructional Development Team provides front-line advice and assistance to faculty members and instructors on their instructional needs in formulating and developing their teaching strategies and contents.
• The Evaluation and Research Team manages evaluation ser vices and conducts institutional research on student teaching and learning at HKUST.
• The General Administration Team provides back-end support to the office.
For more information, please visit the CELT website at http://celt.ust.hk/
Information Technology Services Center
The Information Technology Services Center (ITSC) develops and manages the computing and networking infrastructure of the University. It provides computing support to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching,
and research applications in all Schools. In addition, the Center also looks after the central audio-visual (AV) needs of the University to facilitate teaching and learning.
The HKUST computing environment is based on a secure distributed computing architecture. The cornerstone is an advanced high-speed and fault-tolerant switched Gigabit Ethernet network backbone.
International Internet connectivity is provided by multiple high-speed links. Most of the laboratories and offices are provided with switched Ethernet or Fast Ethernet connections. The network covers not only all the academic buildings but also reaches out to staff quarters and student halls. Staff and students can also access network services via a number of Express Stations at various campus locations. Mobile notebook users can have convenient network access through wireless or wired access points in public areas like computing laboratories, library and canteens. Off-campus users can connect their home computer to the campus network via dial-up modem pools.
The Center operates powerful servers to provide campus-wide network ser vices such as e-mail, network printing and World-Wide Web. One important characteristic of the University’s computing environment is its multimedia and Chinese-English bilingual capability. Increasingly, more network services will have these features. All personal computers and scientific workstations are connected to the campus network, providing desktop computing power as
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well as a window to a vast array of information and computing resources such as Librar y systems, administrative systems, academic software packages and audio/video broadcasting programs.
The Center manages a number of central laboratories, providing computing facilities for teaching and students use. Software training programs are provided to assist users to get the most out of their computers. The Center also looks after centrally-provided AV facilities in all common teaching venues, including 8 lecture theaters, some 70 classrooms and 30 teaching laboratories.
Language Center
The Language Center has a pan-University role in the provision of language courses. Its English programs seek to help students acquire the necessary language skills to gain the maximum benefit from their postgraduate curriculum. The Language Center also provides Business Communication programs for the School of Business and Management, and Technical Communication programs for the School of Science and Engineering, all of which cater for the career needs of our graduates.
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Courses in written Chinese, Putonghua, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Latin are also offered by the Language Center.
The Center has three 24-booth language laboratories, complete with audio-visual and computer equipment, which are used by class groups to practice their listening, speaking and writing. The Language Center also oversees the Self-Access Center — a well-equipped facility that provides a wide variety of materials, activities and services to aid self-directed learning of English, Putonghua and many other languages. The Self-Access Center is open to staff and students on weekdays (9 am - 8 pm) and Saturday mornings.
Publishing Technology Center
The University is committed to high standards and up-to-date methods in the delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, research and publishing.
To this end, the Publishing Technology Center (PTC) sustains a comprehensive publishing service for all academic and research staff and teaching assistants.
PTC provides service on a one-stop-shop concept.
There are four distinctive but inter-related production units in the Center.
• The Design and Multimedia Team assists in the design and production of publications and graphics materials for teaching, research and publicity purposes. It also provides design services for web sites, conferences and events, Power point presentations and CD-ROM production.
• The Photo Imaging Team provides location and por trait shooting, event photo taking, photo flat-copying and image editing services. The Team also maintains an online photo catalog to let users access the University’s photo archive. (http://ptc.ust.hk/
photocat)
• The Print Shop provides high-speed, high-volume digital printing and photocopying services in both black and white and full color. It also provides computer-to-plate output, offset printing, and a full range of bookbinding services.
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• The AV Production Team assists in the planning, videotaping, editing and duplication of AV, digital and multimedia materials for both face-to-face teaching and self-paced web-based on-demand access.
Besides fulfilling the in-house publishing needs of the university users, PTC also acts as the consultant and coordinator for production projects outsourced to the commercial sector. In addition, the Center gives expert advice regarding the choice of delivery approach, production format, budget planning, system configuration and specifications of multimedia facilities for teaching and research projects. It can fur ther assist in tender evaluation and system integration processes.
Throughout the academic year, hands-on technical workshops can be organized to faculty, staff and teaching assistants upon request to facilitate deeper understanding and wider use of latest publishing technologies for teaching, learning, research, and publicity activities.
Safety and Environmental Protection Office
The University is committed to conducting all its teaching, research and other operations in a safe and environmentally friendly manner and in compliance with relevant regulations. Heads of all campus units have the responsibility to implement the University safety policy and to ensure a safe and environmentally healthy workplace. All members of the campus community must follow safety and environmental procedures and watch out for the safety and health of one another. The Safety and Environmental Protection Office (SEPO) was established to develop and help implement safety and environmental policies and procedures, and to provide necessary services to facilitate the realization of this commitment. The
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Office also provides leadership in the promotion of safety and environmental protection culture and awareness. It is our vision that students will learn about safe and environmentally friendly practices while studying at HKUST and will also take this knowledge and experience into the community after graduation to positively impact the safety performance and environmental consciousness of the Hong Kong community.
Specifically, SEPO contributes to this university commitment in the following ways :
• Provides consultation on the planning of facilities and operations to address safety and environmental concerns
• Liaises with governmental agencies to facilitate regulatory compliance on safety and environmental issues
• Conducts risk assessment and review of research proposals
• Conducts inspections and audits to evaluate performance
• Monitor s personnel exposure to hazardous materials to ensure compliance with regulatory limits, and evaluates the performance of hazards control equipment
• Provides general safety training on a variety of safety subjects to complement supervisors’ hands-on safety training and to address curriculum requirements
• D i s s e m i n a t e s i n fo r m a t i o n o n s a fe t y a n d environmental protection matters.
• Assists with the proper selection of personal protective equipment
• Coordinates emergency response and organizes drills
• Coordinates the implementation of a medical surveillance program to address occupational health issues
• Monitors air emission, liquid effluent and waste management to ensure proper practice and compliance
• Stops operations which involve repetitive violations or imminently dangerous situations
• Conducts accident and incident investigations to identify causes and to assist with preventing recurrence
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University Library
The Library is an integral component of the academic programs, supporting the University's teaching and research in science, engineering, business and management, the humanities and social sciences. As of 2004, the Library’s book, periodical, and microform collections total approximately 630,000 volumes, plus 29,000 media materials. Its electronic collections include more than 240 electronic databases, and over 7,000 full-text e-journals.
In addition, the Library offers its users a learning environment rich in electronic information and services. In a sense the Library is always open in that its extensive array of electronic resources can be accessed from every corner of the campus, including
all student and staff housing, twenty-four hours a day.
Users can search the Library catalog in both English and Chinese using a telnet or Web interface. The Library Web server (http://library.ust.hk) has developed into a central information hub for access to Library information, ser vices, and resources; instructional materials; pathfinders; and Internet sites.
An experienced library staff assists users in a variety of ways, from the selection, acquisition, and cataloging of materials to making use of the collection, online searches, and interlibrary loans. There is also a fully-equipped classroom and a computer laboratory for group instruction. The University Library has a strong service orientation in order to effectively meet the information needs of its academic community.
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The Student Affairs Office offers a range of services to students for the purpose of promoting the quality of campus life and assisting students in solving problems affecting their studies. Extra-curricular educational activities are also organized with the aim of broadening students’ cultural and intellectual outlook as well as enhancing their social and interpersonal skills.
Student Housing
On-campus accommodation is provided to meet the needs of full-time postgraduate students.
Postgraduate students live in the Univer sity Apar tments which can accommodate up to 756 students. Each apartment comprises 4 single rooms, a sitting room, a kitchenette, and toilet and shower facilities. The apar tments are fully furnished and
the kitchenettes are equipped with gas stoves, refrigerators and micro-wave ovens. All bedrooms and living rooms are provided with air-conditioners.
There is also a postgraduate hall of residence with 120 air-conditioned rooms. The rooms are for single occupancy. Common facilities on each floor of the hall include shower and toilet facilities, and a lounge area with an adjoining pantry. There are no cooking facilities. Hall residents may use the central dining facilities on campus.
Laundry facilities are provided in both the Apartments and the postgraduate hall of residence. There are no facilities in the apartments or hall for married students with or without children.
International Students Service
The International Students Service of the Student Affairs Office provides services to assist international students to settle down and know more about the campus and different aspects of life in Hong Kong.
The International Student Advisor, in cooperation with some student societies, will organize activities to enrich the international students’ experience of stay in the University and in Hong Kong.