Lingnan University announces new Strategic Plan identifying seven strategic areas

12 May 2022

Prof Leonard K Cheng, President of LU (left), Mr Andrew Yao Cho-fai, Council Chairman of LU (middle), Prof Joshua Mok Ka-ho, Vice-President of LU (right) announce LU’s Strategic Plan for 2022-28.

Prof Leonard K Cheng, President of LU (left), Mr Andrew Yao Cho-fai, Council Chairman of LU (middle) and Prof Joshua Mok Ka-ho, Vice-President of LU (right) announce LU’s Strategic Plan for 2022-28.

Lingnan University (LU) announced today (12 May) its Strategic Plan for 2022-28 which is encapsulated by the tagline “Stronger, Soaring” to move the University forward in seven strategic areas: Optimising Liberal Arts Education in the Digital Era; Augmenting Postgraduate Studies; Inspiring Research with Impact; Interfacing Responsible Leadership with Glocal Entrepreneurship; Bolstering Institutional Advancement, Alumni Development and Branding; Enhancing Campus Infrastructure and Planning Campus Expansion; and Deepening the Connection to the Greater Bay Area and the Rest of Mainland.

 

Mr Andrew Yao Cho-fai, Council Chairman of LU said that the University has decided to review and develop its Strategic Plans on a rolling basis every three years in order to keep its Strategic Plans timely, dynamic and responsive to the changing environment. “Over the past three years, the University has achieved remarkable accomplishments according to the directions set out in the current Strategic Plan. For example, LU ranked top in various areas in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings and the QS Asia University Rankings. Building upon our success, the 2022-28 Strategic Plan lays out a clear road map for the development of Lingnan in the next six years,” he said. On behalf of LU, Mr Yao expressed his heartfelt gratitude to members of the Council and the Court, staff, students and alumni of Lingnan for their contribution to the formulation of the new Strategic Plan.

 

Prof Leonard K Cheng, President of LU said that the new Strategic Plan will guide the University to grow stronger and achieve better academic performance in the years to come. “Navigating the changing landscape of the higher education sector will require innovation, resilience and solidarity. The levels of engagement and enthusiasm shown by the entire university community in developing this Plan give us confidence that we will further our excellence and soar to new heights in the years to come,” Prof Cheng said. “Underpinned by our achievements under the Strategic Plan 2019-25, the new strategic plan reaffirms our commitment to our vision of being a leading Asian liberal arts university with international recognition, distinguished by outstanding teaching, learning, scholarship and community engagement,” he added.

 

Vice-President Prof Joshua Mok Ka-ho said it is encouraging to witness LU’s progress over the past years, which is a testament to the hard work and commitment of the entire university community. “Over the past few years, we focused on the expansion of postgraduate (PG) programmes including professional programmes at the doctoral level and internationalisation of PG programmes through collaborations and partnerships with renowned Mainland and overseas institutions. We also achieved in offering double-degree and joint–degree programmes through collaborations with other partner institutions,” Prof Mok said, adding that LU will continue to strive to remain a global leader in quality education and high impact research for a better world.

 

The seven key areas and their strategic initiatives of the Strategic Plan 2022-28 are:

 

  1. Optimising Liberal Arts Education in the Digital Era

LU will further expand and develop new programmes in priority disciplines, such as creative arts, cultural and creative industries, digital economy, big data, AI, risk management and insurance, innovation and entrepreneurship, health and social services, gerontechnology and well-being, counselling and positive psychology, and ecology and environmental protection. The University will also explore the feasibility of introducing double-degree programmes by itself or in collaboration with other institutions, considering the possibility of introducing fully online programmes, and enabling students to become digitally literate and 21st-century work ready through technology-related training embedded in the curriculum and extra-curricular activities.

 

  1. Augmenting Postgraduate Studies

LU will continue to develop new PG programmes to serve specific societal needs in the priority disciplines as mentioned above, organise collaborative research and postgraduate courses with Mainland/overseas institutions, continue expanding the number of research postgraduate students to create a critical mass for further enlivening the research environment, and contribute to regional and national development by nurturing talent in relevant disciplines such as those needed in the Greater Bay Area Strategic Development Plan and the Belt and Road Initiative.

 

  1. Inspiring Research with Impact

LU will support strategic thematic research areas to increase the number and monetary value of competitive research and knowledge transfer grants, achieving more “world-leading” (4-star) and “internationally excellent” (3-star) ratings in UGC’s future Research Assessment Exercise, recruiting talent to strengthen strategic research clusters, developing international and regional inter-university platforms to promote research collaboration, publication and knowledge transfer, reaching out to the wider community in Hong Kong and overseas for joint research funding, and pursuing emerging industrial partnerships and research collaboration for environmental sustainability.

 

  1. Interfacing Responsible Leadership with Glocal Entrepreneurship

The University is determined to nurture caring leaders with glocal vision, cultivate whole-person development to prepare students for the employment landscape and nurture them to remain competitive glocally and to act responsibly in the changing world, provide more opportunities for students by expanding collaborations with partners in the Greater Bay Area to incubate start-ups, develop suitable technology, and engage them in innovative and entrepreneurial activities in the region and beyond, and strengthen exchange programmes, overseas internships and international Service-Learning programmes.

 

  1. Bolstering Institutional Advancement, Alumni Development and Branding

LU will increase the number of new donors and enhance the communication with existing donors, and raising funds for signature programmes, well-established research areas, the Lingnan Hub -- a staff quarters cum co-living space -- and other initiatives such as the “LU Entrepreneurship Fund”, as well as strengthening alumni relationships and network and enhance the sense of pride of alumni. The University will also emphasise LU’s excellence in quality education, impactful research, knowledge transfer and social engagement, and implement a university-wide strategy for the enhancement of brand awareness and visibility, and further expand local, Mainland and international stakeholder’s networks and keep them abreast of the latest development at LU.

 

  1. Enhancing Campus Infrastructure and Planning Campus Expansion

LU will build the teaching laboratories for Music, Science and AI courses, construct the Lingnan Hub and acquire additional teaching facilities beyond the Tuen Mun Main campus.

 

  1. Deepening the Connection to the Greater Bay Area and the Rest of Mainland

LU will formulate a Mainland strategy and designate an office to provide oversight on Mainland matters, establish Institutes for Advanced Studies and innovation centres with Mainland institutions for joint research, PhD training and wider R&D engagement, and explore with Mainland institutions to develop a collaborative campus in the Greater Bay Area or other locations on the Mainland with adequate and reliable fiscal support.

 

For details of the Strategic Plan 2022-28, please visit https://www.ln.edu.hk/strategic-plan/2022-2028/.