Newsletter No. 182

BA Faculty Honours Academic Excellence and Service S ome 300 honorary guests, students and their friends and family attended the Second Induction Ceremony of the Chinese University Chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma held on 18th March, in conjunction with the Faculty of Business Administration's own awards presentation ceremony. At the induction ceremony, Chapter Honouree Awards were conferred on Dr. Cyril Chow of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. and Dr. Law Cheung-kwok of the Hong Kong Policy Research Institute in recognition of their outstanding business and managerial leadership. Two faculty members, 45 graduate and 69 undergraduate students were also inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma membership. The mission of Beta Gamma Sigma is to encourage and reward scholarship and accomplishment in business administration, to promote education in the art and science of business, and to foster integrity in the conduct of business activities. Its current membership of 400,000 worldwide comprises the brightest and best of business leaders. The awards presentation ceremony saw the award o f certificates to some 100 students on the Dean's List (1999-2000) and 12 recipients of Student Service Awards (2000-1). Prof. Andrew Chan (left), associate dean of the BA Faculty, and Dr. Law Cheung-kwok Medical Faculty's Views on Health Care Reform I n response to the government's consultation document on health care reform, the Faculty of Medicine issued a press release on 31st March, stating that while it agrees with many of the initiatives proposed and welcomes the government's commitment to care for the sick and needy, it feels that two issues at the root of the problem of Hong Kong's health care system have not been adequately addressed. First, it believes that Hong Kong's private and public medical sectors suffer from a lack of well- trained and qualified doctors. Hong Kong has fewer doctors per head of population than comparable communities. This shortage has allowed some doctors in private practice to levy unreasonable charges and engage in other forms of abuse. As the community resorts increasingly to the services of the Hospital Authority, public hospitals are overburdened by patients, and young doctors are working incredibly long hours and becoming disgruntled. Secondly, the Faculty of Medicine believes that the disparity in both quality and cost between the private and public medical sectors can only be solved i f the government has a clearer policy on how the health care burden is to be shared between the two sectors. To ensure that Hong Kong enjoys the standard of health care that a society of its prosperity deserves, extra resources must be injected, the faculty believes. And to help realize the proposed objectives of the health care reform, it recommends that the government ensure that adequate numbers of appropriately trained health care professionals are available, that these professionals understand and practise continuing education and professional development, and that they provide care that is carefully audited for both quality and cost-effectiveness in both the private and public sectors. Philosopher Examines Chinese Culture In World of Crisis T wo Distinguished Scholar Lectures were delivered by Prof. Lao Sze Kwang, visiting professor to the University's Department o f Philosophy, in L i Koon Chun Hall, Chung Chi College, in celebration of the college's 50th anniversary. The lectures, entitled 'World of Crisis' and 'Prospects of Chinese Culture', were delivered respectively on 31st March and 7th April. Educated primarily in Beijing and Taipei, Prof. Lao taught philosophy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong for over 20 years and conducted research at the Institute of Chinese Studies. He is currently professor of philosophy at the Institute of Oriental Humanistic Studies at Huafan University in Taiwan. In June 2000, he was awarded the Distinguished Academic Achievement Award by the Phi Tau Phi Scholastic Honour Society of Taiwan. Asia Moot Corp to Promote Entrepreneurial Spirit Prof. Andrew Chan (centre) and the CUHK team who won the Outstanding Business Plan and Honourable Mention in the division competition T he Faculty of Business Administration organized the Nasdaq Asia Moot Corp® Entrepreneur Business Plan Competition, Asia's only Pan-Asia business plan competition for leading MBA schools, from 27th to 29th March 2001 in Hong Kong with support from the Nasdaq stock market. Established by the MBA Programmes of the University in 1998, the mission o f the Nasdaq Asia Moot Corp® is to cultivate entrepreneurial spirit and ability in MBA students in Asia. This year, 13 teams representing leading graduate business schools from Hong Kong, the mainland, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand participated in the competition. Each team was assigned to one of four divisions. On 28th March, the teams in each division competed in the first round of business plan presentations. A panel of judges comprising venture capitalists, investors, entrepreneurs, and professionals then selected the winning team of each division to compete in the grand finals held on 29th March. The team from Fudan University, who presented a business plan that offers natural anti-pest solutions for farming industries, emerged as the champion. They w i ll represent the Asia Moot Corp to compete at the International Moot Corp in Austin, Texas, this May. The competition this year was sponsored by the Nasdaq Stock Market, Motorola Asia Pacific Ltd., Pricewaterhouse Coopers Ltd., and Hutchison Telecommunications Ltd. Public Health Project Wins Award at Quality Education Fund Expo T he Centre for Health Education and Health Promotion of the School of Public Health has received further funding to the tune o f HK$8.68 million from the Quality Education Fund to develop a 'Comprehensive School Health Education Programme' as part of its Healthy Schools Programme, first launched in 1988, and to implement the concept of 'Health Promoting Schools'. The centre also participated in the Quality Education Fund Exposition held from 9th to 12th March at the Convention and Exhibition Centre. Activities were arranged along a 'Healthy Street' consisting of 10 different booths introducing the centre's projects, with health as its theme. The street was visited by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mrs. Fanny Law (left 1), and Director of Education, Mr. Matthew Cheung (right 1), and won the third best booth award at the exposition.