Dear colleagues, students and alumni,

As I take up duty at CityU, I wish to sincerely thank all of you for the honour and opportunity for me to serve this great academic community.

To prepare myself for the challenges ahead, I have asked for and received valuable advice from many of you on many aspects of the CityU operation. In the months and years to come, this dialogue will continue. From listening to you, I have come to understand the aspirations and challenges of City University in particular and local higher education in general. I fully realize that meeting these challenges and our targets will take collective will and effort.

In coming to CityU, I have visions of excellence for its future. I would like to see this university become synonymous with outstanding quality in teaching, and high impact in research. I share the belief that student learning can be enhanced by exposure to research activities. Students learn best when they have a taste of the creative process of scholars at work. The outside world judges a university by the intellectual productivity of its faculty and the academic performance of its students. Great universities are centers of creativity which is also our best defence against the global challenges of a free market of ideas and talents. Above all, we who benefit from higher education are duty-bound to help make Hong Kong a better society and our world a better place.

As a team, we can accomplish far more than we can achieve individually. I look forward to working with all of you — Council members, members of our leadership team, faculty, students and alumni. In taking CityU to the next level, each and every one of this community is a partner. I must also sincerely thank my predecessors and the CityU Council for what they have done to take this university to its present level of achievement, laying the solid foundation for its future development. We all have a stake in upholding standards of excellence in this institution. Now it is my duty to ensure that this march of progress continues.

Once again, it is my great honour to assume the position as President of CityU. In the days to come, your support and team spirit will be crucial to the success of our mission.

Sincerely,

Way Kuo