Bulletin Autumn 1989

Greater flexibility in the administration of terms of service Concomitant with our efforts of developing external linkages, the rules governing study leave, long leave, outside practice, and a whole range of terms of service related matters must be appropriately adjusted. Over the past few months, several schemes have been designed and approved by the Admin istrative and Planning Committee as permissible variations to our standard Terms of Service A. New academic and administrative staff can now choose from a range of fixed service length contracts, fractional-time appointment arrangements, to super- annuable and tenurable contracts. Within the approved entitlement under the University terms of service, remuneration, long leave and superannuation aremore flexibly packaged to suit individual requirements including the conversion of certain fringe benefits into equivalent monetary values to top up their salaries. These arrangements should improve our capability to recruit successfully and to retain existing personnel. Documents w ill be released shortly to explain the details of the following schemes for immediate implementation: (a) Year-end cash payment in lieu of part of the long leave entitlements subject to budgetary constraints. (b) Fractional-time appointment to release regular teaching appointees for a fixed term to devote more time to do worthwhile research and develop­ ment projects. (c) Topping-up of salary using private endowment funds to upgrade established teaching or admin­ istrative posts for persons with distinctive service or qualifications. Alignment of the administrative and service units to the tasks at hand The administrative units have been evolving over the years to support our academic endeavours. Our new thrusts have also generated the needs for new administrative and service support, e.g. better focused staff development programmes and fund-raising programmes to aid research, etc. Some reassignment of administrative staff to these functions are being made andcertain defunct activities w ill be left to phase out naturally. This is an on-going process, but by year-end much of the tasks should largely be com­ pleted. The Secretariat w ill be consolidated into three distinct sections: Personnel, University Development, Council and General Affairs. Each section w ill be headed by a director with fu ll administrative responsibility and accountability. They report to the University Secretary. The Personnel Section is responsible for (i) staff development, (ii) recruitment and (iii) compensation and benefits administration. The University Development Section is responsible for externally directed affairs such as industrial and business development. The Council and General Affairs Section is headed by the University Secretary himself and looks after all matters related to the University and general administration. A detailed organization chart w ill soon be issued by the Secretariat. The Buildings Office has been coping manfully with a large volume of new building constructions and labour shortage problems, which have been compounded by attrition and recruiting difficulties. In order to cope with these problems, the organizational structure of the Buildings Office has been reviewed. It is expected that by the end of the year a more streamlined unit with improved line of communication w ill evolve. In addition, in order to relieve the internal load, some new constructions w ill be contracted to outside architects and project managers. Computer services on campus include a Com­ puter Services Centre and an Information Manage­ ment Unit, the former serving both staff and students and the latter the computer needs of the administration. Discussion is on-going to seehow these units can play a broader role of coordinating our effort to further computerize the campus. This effort is linked with wiring up the campus for more and better communi­ cation facilities. Progress would therefore be by necessity slow, but the task is scheduled to reach an important milestone, hopefully earlier than 1991, when our new PABX is in service. Other areas of the administration of the Univer­ sity, which is made up of many different and com­ ponent parts w ill continue to evolve and reflect changes in their operations in line with the develop­ ment of the University and these w ill be reported on in due course. In conclusion, may I congratulate all staff and students for doing their utmost to be responsible in everything they do. The success of this University relies on all of us. I am glad to welcome our new students and many newcomers, some with very distinguished career records, others with studies just behind them who join us full of hope and energy, and are ready to put their contributions into the effort this University is making for Hong Kong. 11