HKUST Genesis = 同創, Volume 7, Number 1

,!11§1i

;

m

有aching

Qualify·

C

omes U

n

der

the Spotlight

’，，，，....『、‘_{、」 uali句 mteac凶1gdoesn}

_’

_t just happen. Staff need to work at it ac-tively, and if it

’

s being worked at ac-tivel予 thereshould be evidence of this.’,

So says William Masse予 Pr叫essor of Education and Business Administra-tion at Stanford University apd Direc-tor of the Stanford Institute for Higher Education, member of the University Grants Committee (UGC) and chairman of the UGC Teaching and Learning Quality Review Panel.

And it is this evidence that Prof.

port will be sent to the institution, with the expectation that it will be made public in due course.

According to Prof..Peter Dobson, AVP-AA, and a memberof the review panel, the review exercise came out of a desire by the UGC to redress the balance between teaching and re-search.

’,The discussion on this issue

began several years ago, following the first Research Assessment Exer-cise in Hong Ko月g,which caused a Massey and his 17 co-panel members

will be looking for when they visit the HK.UST campus on 日and 12 April.

Prof. Massey (right) discusses the teaching quality review with tremendous amount of activity in

Prof. Po Lock 泊e,Head of Chemical Engineering. terms of people 仕yingto strengthen The visit is part of a Hong Kong-wide review 血atw山 focus

attention on teaching. 百1epanel, which is made up of local and. over-seas UGC members, representatives from each of the seven institu-hons, and two invited experts on educational quality assurance, visited Hong Kong University and Chinese University in January.

During the forthcoming visit, six grou戶， eachmade up of three panel members, w且 visittwo ’，units’，（depar加凹的 oracademic service offices) and scrutinize the processes used for quality con-trol of teaching. Panel members will also talk to the President, sen-ior staff and students in an attempt to assess the institutional structure for review of teaching, and the actual processes in place

th凹， researchprograms. UGC wanted to cow1terbalance the effects of that by making it clear that this did not mean that they no longer regarded teaching as the core activity.’,

Striking the right balance between the demands of research and teaching is not easy. And it

’

s a problem faced by all the ins ti ht-hons in Hong Kong, says Prof. Dobson.’,Certainly many of om

fac叫ty,especially the yow1g faculty, who 紅Ethe ones being

sub-}

ected to all the reviews, have the perception that research counts a lot more than teaching in terms of professional rewards.’,

So what can be done to change this perception? Prof. Dobson thinks that the UGC exercise is a first step in the process, simply by refocusing people

’

s attention on the issue of teaching and reinforc-at the departmental level.

In.a pre叩isitdiscussion mee恤1g on 9 January, Prof. Massey outlined to faculty the broad themes that the panel members will be in-vestigating (see list).

Broad Themes for Quality Review

ing the message that 叫他natelyit is the core activity of a university. ’,The problem is moving its importance up on people

’

s agenda in terms of their allocation of time and effort."

’,We are not necessarily

looking to see the same proc-esses under each theme irn-plemented in all the programs, but the general methodology should be there

,'’

explains Prof. Ping

1) Curriculum design: How is the curriculum designed, reviewed, improved? Is there input from students, employers, external academics?

2) Pedagogical design: By what processes are. the teaching

meth-·ods selected and improved? Is any time and effort specifically devoted to discussing this?

3) Implementation quality:· There

’

s no point having the best cur-ricult』min the world if it is not being delivered effectively. What methods are used to evaluate this?

4) Assessment of outcomes: What criteria are used to judge whether all the above inputs have been successful? 5) Resource provision: Is resource allocation suppo叫iveof

qual-ity teaching needs?

The first reports, based on the visits to HKU and CU, will be published in Ap祉， 位1dan overall report, expected to contain some general recommendations, will not be available w1til the last visit is conducted next January. But HK.UST need not wait tmtil then to implement some of the ’,best

practices’,seen in the two institutions

vis-Ko, Dean of Engineering, UGC member and a member of the re-view panel.

ited so far. For example, both Prof. Ko 剖1d Prof. Dobson were 凶1pressed by Faculty /Student Consultative Committees used widely at both HKU and CU.

Immediately after mee也1gwitha ur白， thesubgroup will give a brief summary of their findings to the head of the ur曲， whocan respond to any queries. The whole panel will then convene for brief oral reports before Pr叫.Massey presents an overview of the visit to the leadership of the institution in an exit conference. It is then h叫.Massey's job to put together a wri位enreport, taking into con-sideration the institution

’

s comments on a draft version. The

re-’,The most important 出ingis to know what other people 但·e

doing. You may or may not want to use other people

’

s processes, but the question is, have you thought about them, have you tried them?’,says Prof. Ko.

’,I feel optimistic about the possib山tythat this exercise will do some real good," says Prof. Dobson. ’,Certainly it has given me personally some things to th.ink about.’,

~且必i童心且挫，

Workshop Heralds Ambitious

‘

Eco

Net'

P叫ect

T he South China Sea is the central hub

of the Asia司Pacificregion, the life-blood of the 12 countries and territories that crowd

round it. Balancing the 屯nvironmental

health’,of this somce of food and energy with demands for development is crucial if development in the region is to be sustain-able.

So say local scientists, who are becom-ing incr巴asinglyconcerned about the short-and long-term consequences of using the SCS as a garbage can for the unwanted byproducts of development.

’,The South China Sea is already being

used as a dumping ground by the

develop-ing economies of the Asia-Pacific region, and we’re already seeing deterioration in the environment," says Dr. Yuk Shan Wor宅，

Associate Director of the Research Centre.

might end up facing tremendous problems 50 years from now.’,

Shared concern about the SCS has led

"Ifwe don

’

t control what goes into it，正 we scientists to 凶tiatean ambitious

p叫ect-don

’

t develop a workable strategy, we to establish an ecological network (EcoNet)

New Director for ARR

~

uryoungestcam-pus resident was in a big hurry to get here. Kate Brashear was born 10 minutes after the taxi fer-rying her frantic parents p叫Jedup to the doors of the Matilda Hospit叫 m the first hour of Monda予 22January.

After six years as Director of Graduate Admissions at Cornell University, Robert and his family have returned to Hong Kong. Only tlus time to work.

With Kate

’

s safe 缸－ rival, her fathe1; Robert Brashear, will no doubt be sleeping less, but w山 definitely be more re-]axed as he settles into his new job as Director of A由ussions, Regis加世on and Records.

Sibling One-upm帥hip:Two-year-old Max Brashear has been busy telling his ne叫泊m

S尪terai切utall the things he can do that she

’,I have been scurrying

缸，oundmadly 廿yingto meet a II the deans and associate deans and department heads and tmdergraduate coordina-tors,’,Robert says. The point of all this 的endlychatter is to

be-gin to understand tl1e expecta-tions that the academic comm肌肉rhas for ARR. From this 自rstround of visits, he in-tends to develop a de他﹒ plan for tl1e future cfuection of ARR.

值的 Atleast not yet. Robert and his wife, Jan，缸，Eno sh·angers to the region. In fact, it was China that brought them together.

As an ESL teacher,

]an has lived

and worked in Malaysia, Cambodia and China.

It was during her 也nein Beijing in the late 1980s 曲的 sheand Robert met. He was there ad-vising Chinese students on educational oppor-ttmities in the United States as part of a joint US-Chinese government project.

Robert first visited Hong Kong in 1972 when he was a sh1dent in Ti剝W但1 ’，I co叫也1't count the munber i:Jf times I have been in and 趴roughHong Kong since then," he says, add-ing that during lus two-years也itin China, Hong Kong was mainly a place for’,R&R".

’

2

Through ongoing conversations with fac叫句 he hopes to lead the development of a 山uversity­ wide consensus around 出e pl旭.1.

’,With the overall support of the deans,

dep缸。tmentheads and fac叫tyin general," he says, "the challenges we face, although very complex，也：eall quite doable. Without their sup-port, we won’t be effective.’,

By put仙1gavailable teclmology to better use, Robert hopes切 sirnpli你 amunber of bu-reaucratic operations.

"I don

’

t like to make people queue up to talk to a hum也1who 自 effectivelythe interface between them and the computer," he says. 啊。吐血ggood can come of it. It allows an out-sider to add error.’,

for the coastal regions of south China. The project kicked off recently when some 45 well-known scientists from Taiwan, China and Hong Kong gathered at a workshop org位lized

by the Research Centre· through its Institute for En-virornnental Studies.

The first thing on the wish list of the scientists is a set of baseline measures for the SCS on just about everything to do with an ocean: chemical, physical and biological analysis of the water, biodiversity studies, ocean current

movement and physical

and chemical

measure-ments of the a恤wsphere.

Without these baseline measurements, and models of the sea

’

s environmental sys-terns, scientists will not be able to predict the environmental effects of hmnan activi-ties, explains Dr. Wong. And with coastal regions increasingly being forced to make

di丘icultdecisions in balancing economic de-velopment and environmental protec位on,

they need a sound w1derstanding of how the SCS works in order to make informed decisions.

So far the collaborative efforts are centering on the so-called

’small

EcoNet', involving the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Vietnam may also join in

’ the near future. Despite this initial involve-ment of territories that already have close

趾lks,there are still problems to overcome. For ex阻1ple,standardization of key par訂n­

eters w山 beessential, particular for the setting up of a central computer archive of this ecological database.

The grand vision is eventually to in-elude as many as possible of the 12 SCS coastal countries and territories into the pr句ect.But as Prof. Gary Heinke, Director of IES, points ou七 thepolitical wranglings over the SCS make the

’

big Eco Net' an even more challenging prospect.

But for small EcoNet at least, the drive and will to make the project a reality are in evidence. Dr. Wong says workshop sci凹， tists were~ery excited" by the whole idea and agreed .to meet again in March in Guangzhou.

Prof. Heinke sums up the spirit behind the collaboration: ’ ,There is no doubt that there is a need to do something to protect this valuable body of water.’,

E且必拉拉.l!A且i五!f.iJ..I且且!ill

CDR Opens Doors

Campus

Res個urants

H

i

ke Prices

S

叫叫 stud凹ts

will no doub

more to have a meal on C叩1pusthese days. As of 29 January, prices went up an average of 5.7% in the Coffee Shop, 7.7% in the LGl cafete-ria, 8.9% in the Atrium

’

s Chinese restaurant and 9.8% in the LGl West-em resta1u-ant.

’,This is the first time the caterers have increased prices in two years," says Helen Wong, secretary of the Catering Ad，咽ory Commit-tee.’,The prices w山 remainunchanged through 1996. Effectivel予 the

price.increase is below the inflation rate over the three-year period.’,

I

可i臼 b巴h九reen 伽 Univ叫予伽 Gover‘nrnent

and lac in dustry were furth巴rstr巴ngthen巴d on 17. January when Mrs. Regina Ip Lau Suk-Yee, Director General of Industry, and

Presi-Ms. Wong encourages all HKUST community inembers to pass on any opinions about c位npuseateries to the members of the Catering Advisory Committee, listed below. The c'ornrnittee advises the

Univer-si句ron the development and management of the outlets and the qual-ity and v位jetyof the food served. They also make recommendations on overall catering policy.

Catering Advisory Committee

RESOURCE PERSONS E-MAIL ADDRESS RESOURCE PERSONS E-MAIL ADDRESS dent Chia-Wei Woo

per-formed the honors at the inauguration of the Centre for Display Research. The Centre was established with a $14.6 m山ongrant from the Government

’

s Industry Departrne肘， to

carry out research and

de-Vivien CHEU悶， CSO ksvivien

Alan W. K. CH的， PUR sea/an

AlfredE. C凶的’， SEPO eoc/any

Raymond Ho, EMO eorilo

Academic staff

Mordecai GOLL\J, COMP go/in

Gao Chao HE, SOSC sogcile veloprnent on liquid crystal displays. LCDs are made and used

by Hong Kong manufacturers in products such as notebook computers, camcorde凶， mobile telephones and handheld games. After the ceremon予 guestswere conducted on a tour of the facilities by Prof. Hoi S. Kwok, Director of CDR.

Maurice TsE, FINA ktse KarlW. K. Ts且1,BIOL botsim

(Chairman) Non-academic staff Mavis E. KELLY, ETC elmavis

ON THE LIGHT SIDE

:I-Ia

vingm蝕的 few

conswner

produ也

that did not in my hm由leopinion-live up to

趴eiradvertising, it seems o叫yfair that I tell}IOU about one U1at exceeded all my expecta位ons.To understand my entlmsiasm, you need to under-stand U1at I got my first license to 也wein 1952, and probably began waxing my fatl1er's cat. sev-era! years before ilia t.

In U1ose days

’

fuere was one ，閥yto wax a cai·. You got a can of a product named, as I recall, Sirnoniz. (No doubt it was Simonis in U1e UK.) TI1e cai1 had a flat shape, like

a

l缸。gecan of tm1a,

也1dwas opened by pi）吐ngoff fue lid wi吐rncoin

GENESIS, 7 Feb 1 996

lt1s a Miracle!

·

or screwdi心自： Insidewas a p的te U1at 吐leCat' owner, or 地 haplesss凹， hadto smeai·.d m吧r

fue cai· after 伽twashi.ngand 也yingtl1ec紅的d U1en 位1e 如nb巴gai1,beca1凹 fueuser had to ''bu宜，

U1ewax. TI世Smeans rubbing hatd wifu a clean

clotl11m世 U1eh也Eofdiied waxβreplaced by a bright shine.

Whatever else it had to recommend it, Simoniz involved h也·cl,work. Over U1e 趴terven­

ing ye但s,I have 仕'i.edevery product made fuat sirnp恤白白Epr闊的 andrequires less physical effort. The lat，巴stone, which I found tmheralded ona localsLψerm但'ketshelf, is no血ingshort ofa miracle. First of all, w'i.fu Ulis stuff, you don’tw諮h‘

位1ecai· first, you just ＼付peit on over U1e dirt. You also don’t even wait for it t。此yto a haze like most products of Ulis type. As soon as you v.ripe it on, you cai1 v.ripe it off. TI1e dirt comes O丘m血

it and leaves behind a s恤1efuat just won't quit. In fact, a week Jate1; when I was Ulinking of

do-ingitag也1,I found all I had to do was bmsh off

Kin Lai LAM, EMO eokl/a111

Vivien S. K. LAU, DSC! ssviven . Dmmy Stu, SAO snk111dsi11

Student representatives

CHAN Kwok Wai i11%’ft1 [email protected]’, Eric LAI Chi Ho i11%’,ee /ch＠站l11.11st.hk＇’ Campus residents

Lilly CUE 1/Wg

Wan Ketmg WONG b口ukrw

Secretary

Helen WαNG, VPABO abilelen

位1edust and U1e car’s sl甘newas restored. 111ismiracle product is so easy to use fuatit

m泌的 mefeel guilt于 Infact, U1e more I think about it, U1e more cer版趴 I 位nU1at it has at least one of fue following drawbacks:

1. It is probably h位n世叫 tothe c位： After 甘1e

14U1 application, wiping o丘 tileliquid w也

remove not or吐yfue dirt but also fue p剝nt

and U1e entire superstructure of U1e vel吐血， Some damage to U1e frame can also be ex-pected.

2. Or perhaps it is unhealtllJ, Repeated 凶巴

leads to, say, shiny lung disease, or-worse-male pa甘embal世1ess.

3. It 垣 almo

uct, after dea趴， cai1expect to be consigned to a specialαde of U1e Inferno, where they

叭吐11spend eternity applying Sirnoniz to eats in fue Devil’s Car Wash.

Alas, U1e most likely possib山tyis all oftl1e above.

QUESTIONS? ANSWERS!

Q

Has the University released the Final

Report by the Task Force on the accident in

the Chemistry Lab?

A Priscilla Chung (DPA): "Yes. The Final

Report, together with a statement from the

Uni-versity saying thc;1t all recommendations have been accepted and implemented, was released

to the media on 15 November

0

1995. Copies of the report were sent to University departments upon request."

Q

Could the services of the mobile post

office possibly be improved? Sometimes

you have to wait half an hour. Couldn't the

Post Office come for two hours a day, or

have two counters or something similar, to

alleviate the problem?

A Vivien Cheung (Acting DCS): "The Cam-pus Services Office asks the Post Office to conduct a

survey to review the postal service from time to time. The most recent statistics provided by the Post Office on 19 /9 /95 are as follows:

Postal Operations 115/95 2/5/95 3/5/95 415195 515195 Total

al HKUST No. ol Customers 78 58 62 46 40 284 Served Amount ol $2,600 $1,400 $1,800 $1,100 $1,000 $7,900 Stamp Sales No. ol Registered 10 22 Items Posted No. ol Parcels Posted

Compared with the data they collected in the

similar program conducted in 1994, the

varia-tion was minimal. The Post Office considered that the current arrangement of one-hour dura-tion service at HKUST is the most they could

provide with their existing resources. They

as-sured the University that they would review

this issue on a regular basis." ·

Q

·

What happens to wastewater

con-taining chemical substances from

depart-ments like Chemistry and Biochemistry? If it is discharged directly into the ocean, what impact does this have on the marine ecology of the Sai Kung area?

A Dr. Joseph Kwan (DSEPO): "All

wastewater generated by HKUST is collected

and discharged to the Tseung Kwan O Wastewater Treatment Plant through a sewage

tunnel. After treatment, the water is released into the sea in the TKO area. HKUST does not discharge any wastewater into Porter Cove, other than seawater used for cooling, and rain

water through the storin drain system. The

dis-charge of wastewater into the sewer is also regu-lated by the government. EPD issued HKUST

with a wastewater discharge license and

re-quires us to perform monthly monitoring of

wastewater quality."

E-111nil your q11estio11s to genesis orfnx tlze111 to 2358 0537.

~

4

'

HKUST's Computer Programmers to Compete with World's

Best

I - I :ave a problem to solve? .

HKUST has the solution.

In fact, HKUST has a problem-solving

team that is among the world's top 5% of

stu-dent computer programmers, and they are bidding for an even higher spot.

On 17 February, the team will be in Phila-delphia, Permsylvania, competing for the

sec-ond year running at the International

Scholas-tic Programming Finals organized by the

As-sociation for Computing Machinery, or ACM,

Library

Classes for Students

.

T he Library will start offering classes in

February (during Spring Semester) on how

to use the Library Catalog and how to search databases. Inh·oductory classes will be offered in Cantonese. Look for an-nouncements via posters and e-mail as to

specific dates and times.

, the leading professional society in computer sci-ence.

Ken Wong Wing Kin, Chesney Wong and

Vincent Ip Ting Pong will compete in the finals

and Ngan Sai Fong will go to the competition as an alternate. The four are computer science

stu-dents and the four are so obsessed with formulat-ing algorithms to solve prol:>lems they do it in

their free time. For fun.

The team meets once a week with their coach

Dr. Michael Stiber to practise writing ·computer programs that will successfully solve a given

problem.

"He gives us lots and lots of questions and advice about different and fast ways of solving

them," says Sai Fong.

By finishing in thj.rd place in the 1995 ACM

Far East Regional Contest held in Taipei on 5

No-vember, the HKUST team earned a spot at the fi-nals.

"Our students have shown once again that they're among the best computer programmers in

East Asia," Dr. Stiber says. "This was the second

time that we went up against Asian teams from

outside Hong Kong. The first time, we were

very successful. This time confirmed that it

wasn't a fluke. After all, almost any team can

be lucky on a particular day with particular questions. Winning consistently is another

thing."

This year's regional contests worldwide

saw 800 university teams bidding for a place among the top 40 to compete at the finals.

The HKUST team is aiming to do better than their very respectable showing at last

year's finals, held in March in Nashville, Ten-nessee. Last year's team, of which both Ken and Sai Fong were members, beat traditional heavyweights like Stanford and Columbia universities to place 13th in a field of 38

teams.

The excitement of last year's trip to the United States was tempered somewhat by jet lag and cold weather. This year, the team will

be better prepared, sporting plenty of warm clothing. They have also been warned that

Philadelphia in February can be even colder

than Nashville in March. ' ·

Students Ngan Sai Fong, Wong Wing Kin, Ip Ting Pong and Chesney Wong earned a place at the finals after winning

third place in the ACM Far East Regional Conies/ held in Taipei las/ November. Advisor Dr. Cheng Siu Wing and a

conies/ official look on.

Students Organize Gala Premier for AIDS

L eslie Cheung will be there. Anita Yuen and Ching Wan Lau will also be there. You could be there too! And all for a good cause. The Information Systems Management

Students' Society has organized a gala

pre-mier of the film Tristnr for the

ben-efit of the Hong Kong AIDS

Fow1-da tion.

The premier will be on 16 February 1996 at 8:30 p.m. at the

Hong Kong Cultural Centre's

Grand Theatre. A special student

ticket price of $60 is available only through the HKUST Hotline:

2358-7656.

"We want to raise public

con-cern about AIDS. The more people who come

to the film, the more we can help AIDS

suf-ferers," says Albert Law, a 2nd-year SBM

stu-dent who is the overall coordinator of .the

event. GENESIS, 7 FEB 1996 ~t~;ff;:(:E:k~~~~mt/!l&I {tB

ffi{imfl

1

°. ftm1:E3::~ ~ Jt111U1~1iu1rif11~~~~m ~I1t,~ B · · · ~·fflZ11am~•&•~ -~~f-4:ki!Ht~ 0 J:£Wlt~f.?.1Jltt0T;l't~:':::{v: ~ft~:;R5t,···f11l~{p~M,xffi-T:k *1I-l±J:~I11=a(Jtll1$ 0 -JL:fL:li{ptt•~f-4*~HfHtB9~:x5G,

!JI.

ffif1II*l~~-f1#0'.tffJflltHlii~ 0

":(:Ef-4 :;f(I 1tl1J -6i~t!!iii¥IJ1[$ 1cll!J9~tt f1lf-4tt , m1:E!t'f::~+1il1UlUt ¥1J O" 7\:JtlJ'EEt!ih JlJJ I *

~ftiilt.1L

-)!fr'Jf~:t , !.?.iI~I~~*» ~~M\1:>t~~»*'ill l:!!friwa9 t~lll~RHHJ O "~*XMIB~ x5G , m/Jf!llt § c. a(JI·ftfflli:il!Hif 1f·ft¥-:f~ '

f$jt,11:#

0 {tB£¥ll 1fii1Ttt-~flf**~1fiilliJi±1vf·1,'.~r.J!!ffl O mlllllli=1n:r1x1J!li~B9··~, ~:x5G~~~I~ * 0 ftt!lIJl.1:EJf!Jt~~~&t;~!li=ttll'¥~MH! Jl::l:!l:(World Wide Web Homepage) 0 ftt!lm1:E~i= . liif§r~¥1Ja(jf;Q~' m1:1:11JWf~-@-¥1JI{tl:B9iwM O

"1'1JJ

,

~f11:fytt•~f-4*H9~*-~ GENESIS, ,1 FEB t 996 ~ T1'ffl:r.tt9:m-~ 0 {El~:IN~l!~

u•@]*~*

,

1E1~1:Em-11111l"J1>ifinif t!Affll¥1Jinternet , :(:E~~~-11111*~~ Jjflj%J~o" :x5Gf1111iiJ.'l!llf:1!t, m1:EI{t tWM~i=a(J!iif{~Jlit!.?.itilffll1 °

"12-(ll!I\\'ii=fij:r)Jwf!a(J B

rJl~

·tt11t:fll"J~x , 'li":x:(£'Jf$:t iillte~

I{tMll!IB:/tT:k*:x O m1:E$@Ift'f.liifr~, > jjJ

12,( ·fij!!l5Jt1m•tt O , ,

"·!ElI{tf111fiili=B91L'ffiili'~1f1[$:f~

a(]ft!!jj O 12-( RU ifJl~fijJjJwl(J!;f

j~~itJ

§ c.

:ftl

O IJl.:(:EJIIJ~~IJII1t, ?JJ'Mfffiti~$ B9Af11$ 0 _" :x5Gf1111iiJ•tm-~~ o

j11)1J{p~1~JdiJ{±!ftl~ffilt!'l{p ,

!JI.

~l*~•m~fi~•.mHhJ£ 0_1rn~ jft , IJl.liif:(:Efa~f1#$/!l&I{t , 1[$ lll~ttr.5 ,

/!1&$1i1*

,

'l!ll~lV.ll!I1'fa~JlJJ~ '~*@J*B9 ° t!'l{pJ!%ltifil , frn1:E~l:*¥1J a9 , timliifimlgti1f~~JJ O ;t!'l{ptifa~~ l\S?JJ'1-f - {)}~t~ Jif!llt O "fa~~i\s~:k*~i\s!7(]:fll"J~ya 9-ll O

't4-~

~

1_{1~it~nfoJR!BR§:f~W~B9A} ;t§J1& , tl!f.lW1:f·!El1:E~WU: , fn~J: 1f~~-·~~~A~lffltt0&tt -m1:11~i!JO! 0_" ~·f1'11~T#Jll~I{tl:B9J'f>'l'i , ~ "tJ!it{p" -:j: 0 1!'l{p:(:E}L-{p{f ~ ft{'lAf1fiHs, ~~llift'Em-~fa{Hl'ff ~ , l!r~11m= ,

=

,

im~ 01uim - , =~a(Jfi A:xtlfii:t!.J!tUUilt O "~n>f, ~~1iif£,1~a90J'.¥:, J!::f~~iltt!i.-~ 0 _" :x5tilfH1lrJ?. 0 ~{l1_{1mff}L-, ;)C{pA*B9~~\1t~¥1J §} c.Ji~T~lffidB9:k${5t~ffl O ltW~Hf*@JtJ , 'l!ll~~tJ-@ifJiB9Willi , ;t~·fM'*B9~~~11*{1'~ ·f!!:fit1-fm{5H1U~ 0 ;¢;>( f\ct'~t\Li',M--.h.hli

~ $ .UN'-Lk ~ -t .& •iHi I l¥

~ ' J:Jl.~:*:~¥:i:i'Ji.~fiil!(f;

N!lJJJ]!!·

:k~+53-*flBl~%ix&~~ ~w11nt O ifiii!1'l'l!ilix&a\J;~

,'@, • r.iJ lm%!:k~£:i:i'Ji.~~tll

,i',(George) · ~Ui: 23586157 ·

1'Jl;: 27059119 · 'll-tm!lffi:

HKU

S

T

C

al

e

nd

a

r

5-9 Februa1-y

SU Students' Festival '96

Atrium and Academic Concourse 8 February - 5 April

Recent Works by

Katherine Chang Liu and Julia Nee Chu

University Library Gallery 10 Febrnary, 11:30 a且1.- 4:30 p.m.

Egg Drop Contest II

Atrium

12-23 Febrnary

Photo Festival '96 Atrimn, Academic Concourse

12-19 Febrnary

Exhibition on English Proficiency of University Students

Atrium 26 February -1 March

Engineering Festival Ah"iurn, Academic Concourse

科大活動

－

覽表

二月五日至九日 學生節，96 大堂及學術廊 二月八日至四月五日 張散、邱久麗近作展 大學圖書館畫廊 二月十日 上午十一時半 趣味科學比賽 置在蛋再撞地球 大堂 二月十二日至十九日 大學生英語展覽 大堂 二月十二日至二十三日 第四屆科大攝影展 科大展覽廳 二月二十六日至三月一日 工程節 大莖J立學i而廊

Home Affairs

• Mr LEE Ka Chtu1, Peter (OLS)

an-nounces his marriage to LAI Siu Fong on 1 October 1995.

• Ms CHAN Woon Yee, Angel (EMO）凹， no山icesher marriage to LEUNG Kin Sang on 4 October 1995

• Ms LEUNG Yim Mei (MARK）間，

notu1ces her marriage .to CHUI Kam

Ltu1 on 22 November 1995. • Ms LA,\! Mei Lu宅，Katie(PURO) an

nounces her marriage to PAI、，GCha

Choi, Abel on 3 December 1995.,

Announcements

• Salary pay date is: 16 February

1996. 月薪將於九六年二月十六日發放。

..

遇區盞，IJi 忌，．

科大學生組圍花市顯身手

天

之

︱

除夕

，

你

會選擇

如何

送舊

迎

新吉縣人

吃

是接觸第一手

的批

發

商

。

雖

然

他們

驚嘆貨

品

來慎之

周年飯，逛花市 2 還是看電影子夜場？ 低3但為了照顧顧客的購物心理，他，(II『不能把價錢 數十名科大學生，選擇在大除夕前一連鎖天， 定得太低，仍按市i質出售，預料利潤也就甚為可觀 在銅鑼灣維多利亞公園的年宵市場，擺攤子，賈雜 了。 貨。他11111大部份來自工兩管理學院資訊與系統管理 十三位同學這次集資出怔，每人至少入股二千 學系，也有數學系、化學系、機械工程系丑化學工 元2如想增加股本的話，每手一干元，昕得利潤按 程系的同學。 住資比例攤分。相信這是他們從財務學課堂中學來 雖然現在香港經濟不景 2市道不住2但這1時，初 的了。 生之積早已算好一筆！！長，有勇有謀，置身不敗之 在入販、置貨，、計算成本、預算利i閩、核數及 地。資訊與系統管理學系二年級的陳智樂分析說 ﹒ 分JI長方面 ，他們在會計謀上新學的又可大派用場 “即使虧蝕 ，我們的損失也不會太大，因為我們從 了。 前人經驗所縛，真正的街損多在賣不完的存貨， Pfi 相較睞智樂的十三人大軍，他的同學吳詠基男jl 以，我們在入貨時，專門挑可以退貨的批發商，承 一伙可謂陣容鼎盛。連同吳詠基在內 3 三十名同學 擔的風險相對較小。” ︱凍智樂和他的同伴﹔將在花市售賣氯氣球及毛公 仔，像熊寶寶、蠟筆；j、生和米奇老鼠等等。除了氧 氣球外，其他全可退貨，加上他們估計氫氣球的銷 量應不俗 ，難怪陳智樂他們顯得信心十足。 向他們為何棄玩樂 取辛勞吉他們均異口同 聲地說： “寓學習於娛 樂。’， 他們來自不同學 系，但其中一個共通點 是修讀過工商管理的課 程，希望借辦花市來實 踐且可學。 在市場學課程中 ， 他們學到市場定位，既 以他們將這仗的顧客定 集資三萬元，為的是五個字 “最緊要好玩。” 吳詠基說： “年二十九及年三十雨︱瑰，維閣會 非常熱鬧 ，同學都想趁春季學期剛開始，學業沒那 麼繁重時 ，經鬆一番。而且，每人出資不過一千 元，即使虧損也是力所能及的。” 吳詠基去年擺賣過花 市攤位 ， 早已是識途老 馬 。那時 ，他賣的是雜 貨，糖果、茶杯、公仔及 飾物等，甚麼都有，價錢 不一，核算頗為困難。今 年他學乖了，獨沾一︱珠賀 糖果，每包十塊錢，方便 買賣。 年三十︱魄，當你置身 在偉國花市繽紛的攤位，攤

,

擠的人潮時，請不妨看看 那些I也l喝著的小于，是否 科大的學生，說不定，他 位為小孩及少女。他們 又驗誼到，在銷售渠道 而吉，批發商的層次越 多，成本越南，最理想 同學正興致勃勃地看貨辦。 們會給你一個折扣哩！ SOUVENIR re:墊，~＼ INFORMATION SHOP UUJJ/ CENTRE

大

減

價

”,

inter Sale

全部冬季毛衣及衛衣套裝

→律八折

20%

OFF

all

Winter

items.

~ Managing Editor Paulette Flahavin

Editors Regina Chow Jacky Tsang

Maggie Verrall Ling Zhou

Design & Produc，伽 HowardChan

Hester Chau

Photography Leo Chan Butcher Poon Genesis is published by the Office of Public Affairs and

P「intedby ETC on recycled paper.

。1996 byτhe Hong Kong University of

Science and Technology. All rights 『eserved. The next issue of Genesis will appear on

Thursday, 22 February 1996.

Contributions are welcome. Deadline for sub『nissionis

two weeks beta閃閃blicationdate.

Send to e-mail address genes1.孟

－撞u週Diii﹒

藥物傳遞技俯

~T針吃藥是治病救人的必耍手段。但是，有的病人卻不瞬打針 3

叫一獲得了美國專利局的專利權，這也是科大建校以來所贏得的第

怕受挨針之苦﹔有的病人經常吃藥不守峙， JI良了上頓忘了下頓。科大生 二項專利。 化系藥物傳遞技術研究中心（簡稱藥﹔盟中心）關於藥物傳遞技術的研 口服藥物緩釋的作用原理，簡單地說，即將藥物用高分子膜包裹成 究，﹔︱寄使這些問題迎刃而解。 多層式結構。藥物經口服入胃 3 隨著高分子膜的溶解，內部的藥物以一 何謂藥物傳遞技術？藥遞中心主任王子H軍教授解釋說： “藥物傳遞 定的速度釋放出來，進入血液循環，作用於人體。而用作藥膜的高分子 材料既對人體無害，也不會影響藥效的發揮。 援釋技術可以減緩藥物在體內的釋放速度 ，延長藥 效，使病人只需一日服一次即可，省去了多次服藥的麻 煩﹔而更大優點在於，維持藥物在血液中的濃度相對穩 定，減少副作用。因為一般的快速釋放藥物容易在血液中 產生較大的濃度波動，當濃度過高 l待 3 易引起副作用﹔而 濃度過低，則會降低藥效。 在科大技術轉移中心的協助下 ，這項技術已經成功地 轉移給雅柏國際有限公司 ，用在布洛芬（ Ibuprofen，消炎 鎮痛藥）和美多心安（ Metoprolol，高血壓藥）這兩種藥物 上。目前藥遞中心再與廣州製藥工業研究所合作，將這項 技項技術應用到舒︱喘寧（ Salbutamol，防治撐喘藥） 的緩釋 中 ， 以降低它的副作用。 蛋白質藥物的 l攻入技術是由王子 II軍教授和香港中文大 學譚兆祥博士共同研究成功。它的原理是，將蛋白質藥物 與生物源的表面活性劑相結合， 以噴霧的形式入口 3 然後 通過呼吸，使藥物直接進入帥部。表面活性劑的作用是提 高肺膜的張力，令進入肺郁的藥物容易穿過肺脹，迅速進 入血液循環中。 “這樣做的目的並非治療肺病，而是利用腳來做藥物 的輸入口 3 使病人免遭挨針之苦，”王教授解釋說。這項 技術不但可以用在防治性的注射藥物上，還特別適合於一 藥物微粒釋放速度檢測儀此儀器可以摸擬人的體內狀態，例如種﹔且或pH值的變化等，檢測藥物 些慢性病的治療，例如糖尿病、骨稀鬆病等。為了控制病 的釋放速度是否符合標準。 情 3 這類病人需每天接受注射治療。如果改用 l吸入法給 技術內容廣涯，最主要的是如何﹔︱寄藥物‘有的放矢，地輸送到體內的正 藥，﹔悔不僅]j使患者，也減輕醫院的負擔。 確部位，高效而無副作用。” 藥避中心的第三個研究焦點是藥物的定向技術。肝臟是多發病擺 藥遞中心自去年四月成立以來，創下了不少成績。不久前，她的首 官，王教授將重點於在肝臟定向藥物的研究上。這項技術可以使藥物， 項研究成果一一口服藥物緩釋技術一一被成功轉移到香港的生物製藥工 例如抗肝炎藥或者基因藥物等，準確無誤地進入息處，既提高療效，亦 業，投入生產，最近又傳捷報 ：一項新研究成果一一蛋白質藥物的 I！＆入 可以防止藥物的盲目擴散昕引起的副作用。

r

·•區塾，

面

...

悍哥 大學是否已公布化學實驗室意外調查專賣小組的最後報告？ 罕莘 公共事務處主任秦家德覆．“是。大學已於去年十一月十五日 向新聞界發放最後報告及大學已接納並落實所有建議的聲明。個月︱學 系及部門在要求下亦獲派發報告的副本。” 悍哥 大學流動郵局的服務能否有進一步的改善？當我要使用流動郵 局的服務時，往往發現那裡有一大條長長的人籠，我必須在那裡苦候 差不多半個小時。流動郵局能否將服務時間延長至每天兩個小時，多 增設一個總台服務，或採取其他類似措施解決問題？ 莘莘 代理校園服務處處長張蔡麗芬蘊：“校園服務處要求郵政署進

︱行調查，以不時檢討郵政服務

。

手頭上

的最新數

字為郵政署於去年五

同創 一九九六年二月 t 日 月十九日提供的，詳列如下 科大的郵政服務 _{1.5.95 2.5.95 3.5.95} 4.5.95 5.5.95 總數 顧客數目 _{78 58} 62 46 40 284 郵票銷售額 _{$2,600 $1,400 $1,800 $1,100 $1,000 $7,900} 寄出生時號郵件 _{2 10 3 6 22} 寄出郵包 。 2 _{。 。 。} 2 相較一九九四年同類型調查所緝的數字，變化很小。郵政署認為，在 現有資源下，現行在科大提供的一小時服務是最佳安排。他們並承 諾，會定期檢討有關服務。” （請將問題傳真至2358 0537或電子郵遞genesis•)

....

E噩噩圓

教學質素

大學教育的核心

‘‘至百教學質京並

非垂手可得

。教

師應努力

，

達至這個目標，而他們的付出 3 絕對有跡可

尋。”馬西教授（ProfessorWilliam M的sey）如是

說。 馬西教授是美國史丹福大學教育及工商管理 學的教授，也是史丹福高等教育中心的主任。他 同時也任本港大學教育資助委員會的委員，更是 教資會屬下的教學與學習質素保誼過程檢討小姐 的主席。 馬西教授及十七名經員將於四月十一及十二 日訪問科大，尋找這種“蹤跡”。 是 lJz訪問乃該小組槓討本港教學工作的一部 份。小組由本地及海外的教貨會委員、 七間大專 院校的代表及兩名應邀加入的大專教育質素保證 專家組成。他們已率先在一月訪問香港大學及中 文大學。 與研究。杜教授也是 檢討小組的組員。 “我們在數年前 已開始研究有關課 題。 自從香港開展研 ι究評核工作後 2 人們 紛紛加強研究計剖， 數目驚人。教資會希 望能平衡上述現象， 清楚表明 ，這並不是 意味著他們不再視教 學為教育的核心活 動。＂ 杜教授認屆》要 在教學及研究的要求 之間取德平衡殊不容 易，這正是本港所有 小組下分六個組別 ，每組三人》他們的工作 主要是訪問院校的兩個“單位” （部門或學術辦 馬西教授（左）及化學主程系主任余寶榮教授共商教學質素撿討的問題。 院校要面對的問題。 公室） ，審核保誼優質教學的程序。組員也會與校長、學生及專責教 學檢討和程序的高級教職員會唔 ，以了解大學檢討教學的架構及在部 門層面的實際運作程序 。 小組深明以結果來衡量教學質素將有極大困難，是以決定用程序 他說 “我們當中很多教師3 都認為以專業回報而育 3研究比教學更為重 要。這其中又以年育的教員為甚 3 因為他們經常要面對各種專業的評估。” 杜教授認為 ，要改變這積觀念，教資會的檢討工作已邁出第一步，將 人們的注意力重新集中在教學方面，並強化大學核心活動始終是教學的信 作為花多少時間及精力在教學質 京方面的指標。在正式訪問前的 一次座談會（一月九日）上，馬 西教授向教研人員勾劃了小組著 眼的大網（見附表） 課程設計 如何設計、檢討及改善課程？學生‘僱主及校外 息。“問題是如何將教學在時間及精力分配1f面佔 據的位置調較縛更高。” 學者有沒有參與其中？ 教學設計 採納及選用教學方法要經過甚麼程序？有沒有為 杜教授又說．“我們希望透過檢討過程，讓大 家停下來？想一想，談論這個事情。我覺得，我們 的工作在我們訪問過的院校顯然已經發揮了作用一 一變革不斷，也許你會說這不一定是對檢討過程的 回應，但怎麼說這也不是一樁壞事情 3 最低限度也 此特別戀出時聞及精力討論？ 實踐質蒙 自日未能教得其﹔去 1 即使擁有全世界最好的課程， 在每一條大網之下， 小組會 專注檢討相應的支援程序。 也屬枉然。大學為此採取了甚度評估方法？ 絃果評估 以甚麼準則來評核上述要素得以成功推行？ 資源配置 資源的分配是否有利優質教學的需要？ 身兼教貨會委員及工學院院 長的高秉強教授說﹒“我們並不是要求所有課程都要依足每一條大鍋 下面的程序來傲，但基本的方法應不致相差太遠。”高教授也是檢討 小組的成員。 在與一個單位討論後，分組會馬上向該單位主管簡報檢討結果及 觀感，讓他有機會回答組員的查詢。小組其後﹔︱寄舉行全體會議，並在 會上作簡短的口頭報告。馬商教授!I良著會在總結會議上向院校領導提 出一個整體的評論。之後他會綜合所得為每所院校撰寫報告，並將充 份考慮各院校對初稿的意見。報告完成後將送交各院校，而各院校應 會在適當時候公布有關報告。 表明檢討過程本身已收到一點預期的結果。’， 將於四月出版的首階段報告會以香港大學及中文大學的訪問為基礎。 至於提出整體建議的綜合報告則起碼需待明年一月 ，小姐完成最後一次訪 問後才能完成。不過，科大不會坐待其時才實施上述兩所大學某些 “最好 的措施”。舉一個例子說3高教授及杜教授對在港大及中大廣泛運作的教 師／學生諮詢委員會都留下了深刻的印象。 高教授說 “最重要的是，你要知道其他人在幹甚麼。你也許不想依 樣畫葫蘆，但關鍵是，這些想法有沒有在你的腦海出現過？你試過付諸實 行沒有？” 杜教授說 “我對是次活動可以達致實質的成果感到樂觀。當然，就 協理副校長（學術）杜家磊教授表示，檢討工作是為了平衡教學 我個人而吉 ， 已經很真敢發性。”