In late September 2007, the news that Professor Anthony Cheung was to meet HKIEd staff and students, as a shortlisted candidate for the post of President, first surfaced on campus. The news caused a furore while all of us in the HKIEd community wondered if it was just too good to be true. Apart from being a renowned scholar specialising in Public Administration, Professor Cheung also devotes much of his time to public service in a variety of capacities, although he has relinquished many of these responsibilities since he joined the Institute.
In an interview with Joy of Learning, Professor Cheung revisited his teenage and university days, and told us how his previous education helped to shape him into the adult he is today. He also shared his vision for the HKIEd with us.
Wearing a smile yet in a pensive mood, Professor Cheung looked back on his secondary school days at Wah Yan College Hong Kong, where he enjoyed seven years of extremely liberal education provided by Jesuit priests. The Jesuits have earned a reputation for being open, giving their students maximum room for development while also allowing them to challenge orthodox thinking with critical analysis. They also encourage their teenage students to create a better world by addressing issues with
Imbued with religious zeal, Professor Cheung (front row, first left) participated actively in many church activities in his secondary school days.
action. Imbued with this religious zeal, Professor Cheung participated actively in many church activities.
Upon entering the University of Hong Kong in the early 1970s, Professor Cheung, like many university students, was intellectually drawn to the teachings of Marxism.While falling for these leftist theories, Liberation Theology, a very popular religious belief at that time, also held a strong fascination for the youthful student. First propagated by Catholic missionaries in South America, the philosophy interprets world order, seeking social justice in a simplistic one-way-only dogma.
When Hong Kong’s confidence levels plummeted in the pre-handover period in the 1980s, his desire to create a better world prompted Professor Cheung to enter the political arena, participating in party activities while also engaging actively in political discourse. Over the years, his exposure on the political front allowed him to look at situations from a multi-dimensional perspective rather than along a simple linear direction demanding a single solution.
“We dream dreams and ask why not?” –
Professor Cheung’s oft-quoted saying of Robert Kennedy when perplexed minds asked the latter for clues – can perhaps explain why the President decided to follow certain causes in his life.
Having worked at the City University of Hong Kong for a very rewarding 21-year period, Professor Cheung was enormously enjoying his role as an academic focusing on research and teaching, while also carrying out administrative duties. However he had never imagined assuming the role of President in a tertiary education institution. When he was first approached to consider
the job, there were plenty of hesitations —— he would have to sacrifice, amongst many others, his much-loved research work. However with the full support of his wife, Professor Cheung began to analyse the situation with a “why not?”
“A genuinely caring teacher will inspire students with a lifelong quest for knowledge, and hold dear the students as well as their well-being at heart.” Professor Anthony Cheung
In his long record of public service, he was Chairman of the Education Panel of the Legislative Council in 1995-1997, a position which kept him well informed of the Institute’s development during its inception stages. When the issues of academic and institutional autonomy, as well as HKIEd’s quest for a university title, were under the limelight last year, Professor Cheung followed developments closely. At the defining moment before arriving at a decision, he asked himself, “Is education important to Hong Kong and its future generations? Am I willing to take up the challenge to lead HKIEd forward confidently and carve out its development for the next decade or so, while also playing an instrumental role in the education landscape in Hong Kong, the Mainland and the Region?” Believing in the Institute’s unique mission, Professor Cheung finally decided to take up the job and its challenge.
Since he attained his PhD in The London School of Economics, and as he is aware that there are world-renowned institutions such as The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor Cheung appreciates that a university title may not matter for the
better informed and within certain western countries. However as university education becomes more and more popular, it marks an increasingly fine line in professional qualifications, positioning as well as the status of tertiary education institutions. Professor Cheung fully understands that in the public perception, a university title does indeed have a significant bearing.
In the HKIEd, there is a critical mass of academics, whose specialisations and frontline experience in education are a great asset to the community. Furthermore, 80 percent of primary teachers in Hong Kong have received their teacher education at the Institute or the former Colleges of Education. Professor Cheung thus asked “Why does the Institute not have a university title, given that in every sense it is a university-level institution?” With this belief, he began to dedicatedly work to lead HKIEd on our quest for a university title. This mission tops the list of his five priority tasks, which he spelt out in his first email to staff and students.
“Education-Plus”, this term created by Professor Cheung, embodies the vision he holds for our students and the Institute’s role in education.
Students will be offered an education – more than teacher training – in the related areas of the humanities, arts, culture, policy and governance studies. As the social context in which teachers’ work becomes increasingly complex, they need to handle situations not always within the confines of a classroom. Other forces at play include the advent of the knowledge era, brought about by globalisation. What students learn is no longer static knowledge, rather they need to acquire innovative skills and an international outlook which will help them grapple with unforeseen situations coming in from every direction. As such, this new scenario calls for an innovative approach to education.
Professor Cheung’s vision is that our students, apart from their formal education, will enjoy room for self-reflection, enrichment and personal growth, eventually emerging as confident young people, whose playing fields will not only encompass schools in Hong Kong but also outside the territory and in other professions where they can usefully apply their acquired skills.
His dream for the HKIEd embraces the catch phrase “Think Big”. As Hong Kong and the world enter the knowledge era, Professor Cheung envisages HKIEd’s role as going beyond teacher education, as the broader community will also have learning needs generated by the concept of lifelong learning. In the long run, his vision for HKIEd is that of a leading education institution, recognised as a centre of excellence, which will play a pivotal role in the education of Hong Kong, the Mainland and the Region.
With this vision before him, he is steaming, full speed ahead, to turn his dreams into
reality.
