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標題華宇李森田之子 搶下「賽德克巴萊」3D預告片製作授權兔將 隱身在台大校園的動畫新星

2011-9-5  TWM




一家資本額不過五千萬的動畫公 司,技術實力卻獲得導演魏德聖的青睞,還吸引好萊塢片商,捧著3D電影轉換合約找上門,它就是台灣3D動畫新星——兔將。

撰 文‧林宏文

隱身在台大校園裡的一個實驗室,一家成立不過半年的公司,獲得魏德聖等當紅導演青睞,獨家拿下「賽德克巴萊」、「痞子英雄」、 「殺手歐陽盆栽」等國內最夯電影的3D預告片製作授權,甚至還讓好萊塢導演都找上門,連科技大廠台達電進軍3D投影機市場也找它合作開發技術,它是台灣新 崛起的3D動畫新星——兔將。

走在台大校園裡,喊得出名字的企業捐贈大樓,比比皆是,但令人意外的是,兔將的技術研發、美術製作部門,甚至 一間小型電影院,就坐落在資工系所使用的「德田館」頂樓,要深入裡頭,還得通過層層關卡,外加指紋辨識管制,可見其門禁之森嚴。

兔將會把研 發中心設在這裡,除了研發團隊一字排開,三位創辦人李昭樺、廖偉凱、林祐平都是資訊工程博士出身,頂著劍橋博士光環,僅三十六歲的李昭樺,是華宇電腦董事 長李森田的兒子,而「德田館」正是李森田捐贈給台大資工系所的系館。

再進修,苦心攻讀劍橋博士李昭樺有位富爸爸,但他卻寧願自己打拚,大學 畢業那年,李昭樺拒絕父親豐厚羽翼的保護,未進入華宇集團,反而憑著他對動畫產業滿腔熱血,開啟他的創業之路。

李昭樺創業之初,並非一帆風 順,他曾悶頭開了一家動畫公司,但欠缺技術與相關知識,所以第一次創業並不成功,因而起了再進修的念頭。

有一次,李昭樺聽一位南加大教授的 演講,談到很多遊戲製作的新技術,「結果,教授講的東西,很多我都聽不懂。」演講結束後,李昭樺馬上找這位教授,希望教授能夠收他為徒。

出 乎意料的是,教授居然答應,也讓他得以完成到南加大電機系研究所繼續進修的願望。只是,文化大學畢業的李昭樺,在進南加大之前,書念得並不好,所以,重新 念書對他來說,是件苦差事。

不過,也是在南加大,讓他遇見了廖偉凱及林祐平,成了他日後創業的好夥伴。

念完南加大研究所,李 昭樺繼續到英國劍橋攻讀博士,下很大的苦功才拿到學位,事實上,劍橋博士班淘汰率很高,像李昭樺的台灣同學,就有一半沒有畢業。

不靠富爸, 用技術超印趕美去年底,李昭樺應邀參觀大陸各省的動漫基地,他到瀋陽3D動畫公司,看著一部部的3D動畫作品,心中浮出一句話,「3D電影市場已經起 飛!」當時,李昭樺心想,既然國際3D市場已崛起,自己又有技術實力,「那何不自己做?」二次創業的想法浮上心頭。

於是,他找了昔日南加大 的同學,當時在聯發科矽谷分公司工作的廖偉凱與林祐平,他們一位專精電腦視覺、一位是圖學博士,本著年輕創業衝勁,今年二月,三人成立兔將,且不到三個月 時間,一套3D技術就在他們手中誕生。

看過許多國際動畫廠的技術,李昭樺很清楚,除非兔將能把成本、開發時間都壓縮到最低,他們才有機會以 技術壓倒外商。

為求開發最新技術,不論是繪圖、軟體、伺服器等設備,他們都自己研發,「一部電影要從2D轉換成3D,仰賴人工的印度公司, 要花一千四百人,以每天二十四小時不停工的方式,連做十六周,才能完成。可是若用兔將的技術,只要五十人,一天工作八小時,八到十二周就能轉好一部電 影。」這就是兔將能超印趕美的技術實力。

過去,拍攝一部3D電影,耗時、耗力又燒錢,有實力拍出「阿凡達」這類大製作的導演不多。然而,許 多導演無法用3D拍攝手法製作一部電影,卻能透過兔將的技術,製造出影像的深度和立體度,2D電影靠軟體就能轉換成3D。更重要的是,兔將靠著技術實力, 硬是將價格壓到比美商、印商低,「外商轉換一部3D電影,每分鐘要價六萬美元,可是兔將接手,只要二萬美元,是外商價格的三分之一。」李昭樺說。

看 著兔將的實力,國內片商不諱言,「這確實是個潛在市場,畢竟要拍3D電影,口袋深度還得夠深。」這也是為什麼許多歐美片商、卡通動畫製作公司,一一找上兔 將,甚至好萊塢片商也來敲門,希望能將「魔鬼剋星」等三百部老電影,重新進行3D版本的轉換,顯見兔將的爆發力。據公司估計,若這些洽談中的訂單都逐一實 現,今明兩年營收將上看兩億元。

今年六月,台達電在華山藝文園區舉辦了一個3D投影機特展,並把「牡丹亭」知名攝影師許培鴻原本以2D拍攝 的照片,利用軟體技術轉換成3D,其背後合作廠商就是兔將,「我們找過幾家廠商來比較,發現兔將技術好,且速度最快,自然挑上兔將。」台達電電子視訊事業 部處長白法堯說。

從遊走在退學邊緣,到劍橋博士,現在更創業成功,李昭樺一路走來,還是最感謝父母的支持,「高中時我打架鬧事,被學校記兩 大過、三小過,差點就被退學,但遇到大事,父母最終還是選擇支持,讓我很感動。」問他公司為何取名兔將?李昭樺笑了笑,「因為今年是兔年,我生肖也屬兔, 而且兔子是活潑可愛的象徵,與做動畫的形象相符,而且在愛麗思夢遊仙境故事中,兔子也是引領大家走進仙境的主角人物;至於『將』則是日文裡頭先生的意 思。」3D技術只是現階段兔將的第一個產品,在李昭樺眼裡,未來兔將會發展出更多與電影相關的技術,讓兔將不僅立足台灣,也可以走向國際。

李 昭樺

出生:1975年

現職:兔將創意動畫執行長學歷:劍橋大學資訊工程博士、南加大電機碩士


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理大校董齊齊接生意

2011-9-22  NM




理大校董會是大學最高管治機構, 須盡力執行管治工作。校董會成員有責任向大學提供意見和協助,須忠誠地盡力履行職務,並以公眾、學生、員工及大學的整體利益為依歸(見理大年報)。

理 大校董會成員應該是社會精英,在商界和專業領域中有傑出成就。校董會成員的工作純屬公職,是義務工作,不享有薪酬。獲委任者實應本着服務社會的精神,根據 校方提供的機密資料提出意見,將個人知識和技能貢獻大學。

2004年,當羅仲榮接替胡應湘出任理大校董會主席時,理大的負債不過3,000 萬元,財政收支十分健全。但到2010年羅仲榮離任後,負債已接近10億元,當中約9億元是政府貸款,其餘約1億元是向東亞銀行貸款用作興建「六星級」超 豪酒店。倘若理大全數取用東亞提供7億元的備用貸款,負債將增加至接近16億元。

一間政府資助的大學,為何在短短六年間,負債增加數十倍之 多?首先,在2001年前特首董建華提出專上學位大躍進,理大響應政府呼籲大量增加副學士學位,先後向政府申請貸款約9億元,在紅磡及西九龍興建教學大 樓。經過「嚴格」的招標程序,兩份建築合約都批給同一位校董(周亦卿)所屬的公司(其士集團),合約總值約7億元。

這位校董不但積極參與大 學的建築工程,還聯同另外三位校董,與理大一同投資成立公司,以「理大精研」的品牌出售中藥產品,結果理大最終損失九成多的投資,價值接近三千萬元(現金 加科研價值)。

至於理大全資擁有的酒店唯港薈(Hotel ICON),在2004年提出計劃時的投資金額不過是大約5億元左右。還記得當時理大剛剛完成教職員宿舍大廈的外牆翻新工程,整幢大廈的外牆煥然一新;但 突然間又傳出要清拆大廈,將土地用作興建酒店。校方要求仍在宿舍內居住的教職員及其家屬限期遷出,給予每人每月數萬元的租金津貼在外租住房屋,又在酒店內 預留約30個單位給他們日後「原區安置」。

由此可見,整個酒店工程計劃並未有經過深思熟慮。當時的校董會成員包括保華建業集團物業發展總監 李頌熹(2001-2007),不知有否提供專業意見。

後來理大決定去馬興建新酒店,經過「嚴格」的招標程序,工程恰巧由保華建業集團在 2008年投得,工程造價是9億多元。由於李頌熹已退任校董會,故此毋須申報利益。當時校董會成員包括前美麗華酒店總經理鍾慧敏(2007-2010), 憑藉其豐富酒店管理經驗,本應可以向理大提供不少專業意見。只可惜,不知為何鍾慧敏任期未滿便請辭校董一職,令理大失去她的專業協助。

之後 酒店工程費用不斷攀升,去年底已上升至13億元,這還未計內部裝修和購置的費用。校方為了支付巨額工程費,需要向銀行申請備用貸款。剛好在校董會內有一名 東亞銀行的顧問陳子政,他向校方推介東亞的貸款服務。經過「嚴格」的招標程序,陳子政成功地協助東亞向理大提供7億元備用貸款,而理大亦將4億元存入東亞 銀行的戶口。

理大校董會的透明度特別高,成員不避嫌地做足利益申報,將上述的關連人士交易在財務年報中披露,才令公眾得知理大為何出現巨額 負債。(論理大公司管治之五)

(按:關於理大附屬公司的管治問題,讀者可參考調查報告,見http://www.polyu.edu.hk /cpa/IRP)

林本利

曾任教於理工大學,現為專欄作家及教育中心校監 (http://www.livingword.edu.hk)作者網誌:http://lampunlee.blogspot.com


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社會焦躁 人才外流 高教龍頭怎麼看?台大校長楊泮池:把握優勢 年輕人可以做更好

2015-08-24  TWM

台灣社會紛亂,經濟低迷,年輕人看不到未來,大學應提供什麼價值觀給學生?

資源有限的高等教育,面臨國際上的人才競爭,又該如何突圍?

《今周刊》特地專訪台大校長楊泮池,談他的憂慮與建言。

撰文•郭淑媛、林思宇

楊泮池

出生:1954年

現職:台大校長、中研院院士

經歷:

台大醫學院院長、

台大醫院副院長、內科部主任學歷:台大醫學院臨床醫學研究所醫學博士婚姻:已婚,育有1子1女台灣很小,天然資源有限,可以跟人家比拚的是人民教育素質 好,譬如捷運站、電影院排隊井然有序,我們應利用此優勢。雖然大家會抱怨很多事,但應看久看遠一點,這些優勢應該更把握,讓它好能更好,但最近大家沒有把 這件事做好,這是我比較關心的。」台大校長楊泮池以他一貫不疾不徐的聲調,在接受《今周刊》專訪時,不待提問,第一句話就道出他對台灣社會的憂慮與期待。

台灣社會近年充斥焦躁情緒,政局混亂,經濟低迷,年輕人看不到未來。大學身為社會良心,能否扮演更積極的角色?楊泮池在八月初反黑箱課綱運動時曾提出,「若課綱微調程序有瑕疵,應停下來好好溝通,把民主程序走完」主張,擲地有聲。

在此同時,台灣高等教育近年面臨中國、新加坡與香港強大的人才競爭壓力,身為大學龍頭,台大要如何因應?

訪談過程中,楊泮池雖擔心年輕人未來沒有更好的發展機會,但面對諸多問題,他多是正面思考。對學生,他強調要發揮利他精神,鼓勵挑戰權威,培養多元能力;對社會,他呼籲投注更多資源在高等教育,並倡議產學合作,給年輕人更多機會。

在他背後,是高掛在校長室牆上的台大校訓「敦品勵學,愛國愛人」,楊泮池所思所想大概也從這裡出發。以下為訪談重點:談利他 一定要做一些對社會正面的事台灣社會缺乏正面能量,我希望以正面思考來引導學生,讓他們知道什麼方向是對的。

以前當醫學院院長時,新生進來,醫學人文課第一堂,我會告訴學生,你進到台大,是社會給你很多機會,希望你畢業後,一生一定要做一點事,這件事不論多微 小,對社會是要正面而且幫社會往前走,每個人都這樣做,社會會更有競爭力,更和諧且更永續發展;事實上,在各行各業都要有這個想法。

以前台大學生注重書卷獎︵各系全學期學業總平均前五%學生可獲獎︶,在意比同學多○.一分,但多這○.一分又怎樣?我出任校長後,全面推動利他獎,由學生 自己選,希望鼓勵同學做對社會有益、正面的事或典範,幫助同學、社會或弱勢,發揮利他精神,在校慶、院慶時頒獎表揚,在學生申請學校留學時,我們會大力強 調這點。

利他獎在台大醫學院實施六年,在整個台大實施二年,成果是很多學生感受到利他精神的鼓勵,會組社團做有益社會的事。

利他是關心周遭的人以及關懷社會,你能想到並幫助人,即使再小,每個人都這樣想,整個社會累積起來就很多。

學生畢業來找我,我會告訴他們,台大學生畢業二、三十年,相對來說,在各行各業會有成就,但希望大家追求成就時必須有所選擇,如果是用掠奪式、讓周遭的人會損失或痛苦,這是不應該的。

成功有很多方式,你可以同時幫助別人,而且也讓自己有成就。

談學運 盲目相信權威,無法青出於藍談到學運要回到教育的本質。醫學院第一堂課,我也會跟學生講,不要盲目地相信權威。你希望學生青出於藍,但若學生盲目相信權 威、相信教科書與老師講的話,就無法跨過門檻,學生表現永遠無法比老師好,因為很多教科書寫的不一定對,你一定要有能挑戰權威的想法。

這是教育的基本原則,應該容忍並鼓勵多元,讓學生有多元思考能力,包容學生批評你、讓他說出不同意見。

延伸來看反課綱運動,應該高興學生能表達意見,不是學生聽老師講才是好學生,對不同看法應用包容方式,好好溝通,事情會比較好。

談高等教育 應正視教授頻被挖角警訊人才是正常分布曲線,台灣要有競爭力,得讓分布曲線往好的這邊走。高教人才投資應更多,但現在是反過來,比起中國、香港、新加坡差太多,人才一直被吸走,不止好學生被吸走,連老師都被挖走,台大有這種危機。

這是警訊,政府應有策略,很多事不是學校可處理,經費有限;中國的北大、清華經費是我們五倍、十倍,甚至連復旦、浙江等一堆學校經費都比台大多,你怎麼跟人家競爭?人家投資更多,我們會一直被拋在後面。

教育部五年五百億﹁邁向頂尖大學計畫﹂補助,對台大有幫助,讓我們進步,但別人比我們更有錢,進步更多。邁頂計畫這幾年一直縮,也進入尾聲,政府應更有視野一點,讓國家有競爭力的投資若不做,問題會很嚴重。

目前整體教育經費是增加的,但應好好思考,全面照顧、均分就會死掉,一個制度FIT︵適用︶所有學校會很慘,齊頭式平等,讓我們更沒有競爭力。

台大目前只能開源節流,用最少資源維持競爭力,盡量讓與產業界合作的經費來幫忙資深老師,再把大部分資源來幫忙年輕、新進的老師,讓他趕快站起來。

台大今年有十幾位老師被挖走,電資、管理學院等各系所都有,被香港、新加坡、澳門以五倍薪水挖走,無法聘到好老師,讓我更擔心學校發展。我們的薪水相對其他國家差很大,有些系所是校友捐錢用永續的方式幫忙新進老師,但也只有三年、五年,更不是每個系所都可做到。

除此之外,目前有些大學系所招不到人,台大還好,被視為較無競爭力的科系要動態調整,但全面減收是不對的,很多企業在萌芽階段,減收業界需要的碩博士生人才,企業會更慘,要更有彈性。

對人文社會科學,學校則會多開一些課程,讓學生具備多方面專長,如資訊處理、金融、經濟、管理等,讓學生畢業可以跨足不同職場,多元發展會更好。

至於大學學費是否調漲,得看社會氛圍。學費漲幾千元,對校務基金幫助有限,政府稅收投注高教是應該的,硬要漲學費得要好幾倍才夠,必須等社會經濟好一點時再來大改變,現階段要大改變可能社會無法承受,不是很妥當。

談技職教育 薪資不該與學歷掛鉤技職教育很重要,人才不一定要名校畢業,在各行各業專業上做得非常好就是人才,社會應調整觀念。目前社會上一個很大的隱憂,是技職教育 變成升學主義。社會價值觀也要改變,薪資結構與學歷掛鉤絕對不對,應與能力掛鉤,甚至有能力就應當Leader(領導者)。

此外,現在高中只上二年半,很多高三課程都沒在上,學生推甄無論過了或沒過都無心上課,高中校長就說,希望把高中三年還給高中,才能把學生教好,大學把選才時間稍微延後會比較好。我也覺得要調整,這影響很大,學生到了大學,基礎科學能力不夠,我們須花更多精神去教。

談產學合作 將學生訓練成業界需要人才我們應該要用健康宏觀的角度看待產學合作,讓學用落差減少。台灣電子業要更領先,若沒有足夠研發人才會很慘,企業界會抱怨學校沒有培養需要的人才,其實學校與業界要共同培養需要的人才。

業界老師專業很強,可以來當實務老師,共同來指導學生。我們的老師也可以與業界合作,共同研發他們需要的東西,碩博士生可以被訓練成業界需要的研發人才。

台大大學生畢業後大部分會留在學術界,但以比例來看也有很多人會到業界服務,所以我才會希望企業提供實習機會,讓學生知道企業文化與專業知識的需求,他們回到學校才可重新規畫學習課程,以符合業界需要。

不過,老師兼職、產學合作或借調,教學時數一定要維持,或要有替代人力來幫忙教學,因此產學合作有回饋機制,很多資源是來補足人力,一定要在規範下進行。

整體來說,我會擔心年輕人如果沒有更好機會、沒有更好競爭力,那麼,台灣的未來發展是令人擔憂的。

面對低薪環境,年輕人要勇敢一點,外面環境有很多挑戰與困境,光是抱怨於事無補,最重要是讓自己能把握現在,抓住現有的機會。社會也要鼓勵年輕人,不吝於給年輕人機會,讓他們有機會去闖、站起來。

台大EMBA校友經常會問我,是不是需要捐助清寒獎學金,我會說,我們的確有需要,但我對EMBA校友有不同期待,因為他們都是奮鬥成功的典範,應回過頭 來給學弟妹或其他年輕人更多機會,到他們的企業或公部門去實習或學習。結果,有家企業今年增加三十二個實習機會,其中十六個給台大,送他們出國去實習。

有些人說台灣一代不如一代,我看不是這樣,只要有機會,年輕人真的可以做得比我們更好。

 


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港大校長撐學生

馬斐森校長在12月17日的演辭

先看尾二的一段:

....My last word is on our students. There seems to be a widespread belief in Hong Kong that school and university students, and perhaps Hong Kong U students more than most, are difficult, rebellious, subversive trouble-makers: this is just not true and I need all of you to join me in countering this misinterpretation. The vast majority of Hong Kong students are hard-working, conscientious and respectful of authority. They are talented individuals working to improve themselves and society. No-one in Hong Kong should think that student activism is only a Hong Kong issue. In recent months there have been massive student demonstrations in universities in the United States about issues of race and fossil fuel divestment and in South Africa about issues of tuition fees, closing universities down in some cases. Our young people are passionate and idealistic and they care about the world that they are inheriting. We may disagree with some of their methods, but we should work with them, understand them, help to mould them into a generation of mature adults that can address the challenging issues facing their world.....

幸虧從英國聘請了他做校長,港大的淪落還可以拖幾年。

全文:


Message from President and Vice-Chancellor

This is the speech of the President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Mathieson to the Court (December 17, 2015).

First, I want to personally thank all the staff, students, alumni and friends of the University for all their support and for all their hard work in advancing the best interests of Hong Kong U. The twelve months since last year's meeting of Court has been a very challenging period for everyone associated with this great University. There has been intense public and media scrutiny of decision-making in the University Council, there have been controversies around many issues and there have been challenges to the core values of the University. Throughout this period, I and the senior management team have stuck to our principles, remained politically neutral and continued to be driven by our commitment to maintain and enhance the high standards of excellence in teaching, research and knowledge exchange which characterize and define Hong Kong U and must continue to do so. The senior management team has been joined by 4 new members in 2015: together with the rest of the team and in consultation with the Faculty Deans, we have initiated bold reforming steps to address the University's future. The draft document that has been provided to Court members for today's meeting describes our current thinking on a high-level vision of the way forward. A previous version of the document has already been shared with Council and at that meeting I appealed to members to contribute to the vision and then to unite around its delivery. I make the same appeal to all members of the University today. I acknowledge that there will be a debate on some contentious issues later in today's meeting; we may have differences of opinion on the priorities or on how to address them: that is healthy, let's have a debate and reach a conclusion and then move on. Let's not have conflict and confrontation. It is time to put divisions behind us, to be unified by our shared passion for Hong Kong U and to move forward. In my opinion there has been far too much focus on individuals: who the Chancellor is and how he is selected, who will be the next Chair of Council, who is awarded honorary degrees, who is appointed to a vice-president post, who the President is and how long he will last etc, and not enough focus on the University as a whole. We must all remember that we are transient in the history of the University of Hong Kong. In another hundred years this University will still be here striving for excellence. Our job is to nurture and protect the legacy of the University, its current activities and its future strategic development. We should shift the focus from individuals and get it back onto the University. The new strategic plan, and the major capital campaign that we propose to mount alongside it, can be the catalysts for a new positive energy, so that we can achieve the aim of making the University of Hong Kong Asia's global university and one of the world's greatest universities.

In my speech to Court a year ago, I commented on the need for greater strategic coordination. You will have seen that the new plan centres around 3+1 Is: Internationalisation, Innovation and Interdisciplinarity, all converging on Impact. With each of the new vice-presidents leading on a key area, we have started work under these headings. A major part of the work that our Vice-President for Teaching and Learning, Ian Holliday, has completed this year was around the assessment visits by the Quality Assurance Council (QAC) which last visited HKU in 2009. Ian and many colleagues did an enormous amount of work preparing the submission documents and interacting with the visiting team, which included local and international experts. We do not yet have their full report but the initial comments were generally very positive. Our Academic Development Proposal 2016-2019 was submitted to the UGC in February and included bold commitments to provide opportunities in the Mainland and overseas to 50% of our undergraduate students by 2019 and 100% by 2022 and to double our number of joint or dual degrees with highly selected overseas partner universities. These are important planks of the first of the Is, Internationalization, which is an essential component of enhancing our standing in the world. We believe that there are sound educational reasons for ensuring that our students have international experience and that this will help us to ensure that our graduates are equipped to be global citizens. The new opportunities that we will create don't all have to be study exchanges or joint degrees. Living in diverse geographical and cultural settings, working in schools, charities or social enterprises, or doing internships or research attachments can all make massive contributions to personal development. We believe it will be good for our students to get outside their comfort zones, experience adversity, take calculated risks and test themselves in challenging situations. Thus it is that the future global leaders will be born.

However, that is not enough: internationalization must also start at home here on campus. We have a truly international staff and a diverse student body. We have a constant stream of international conferences and symposia in the University, numerous distinguished international professors visiting under our various schemes, huge numbers of international collaborations in research and teaching. We must ensure that we have an international approach to all that we do, bench-marking ourselves against international best practices and aspiring to achieve characteristics which define the world's greatest universities.

The second I is innovation: in teaching and learning, we are actively developing our electronic learning capability, led by Associate VP Ricky Kwok, including the development of MOOCs (massive open online courses) but also SPOCs (small private online courses), 'flipped classrooms' where students study teaching materials electronically before the classes and then use the class time with the teachers to debate and understand the materials. As we come to the end of the first four year undergraduate cohort, we will evaluate our core curriculum and our general education provision, learning lessons, innovating where necessary to ensure that we provide exactly what our students need.

We must also innovate in research: our work here is being led by our new Vice-President for Research Andy Hor, a Hong Konger with many years of experience in Singapore where innovation and tech transfer are stronger than in Hong Kong. There is a real mood in Hong Kong now for innovation to be the key to the city's future. We have already played a leading role in this. Our Dreamcatchers event in May brought together some of the region's most successful entrepreneurs including Pony Ma with over 1000 students, staff, alumni and friends of Hong Kong U. The event highlighted ways forward that we are following up: the creation of an Entrepreneurship Academy and working with the government, Cyberport and the Science Park to ensure that our students and staff have access to all the opportunities created by the new drive to support Innovation.

The third I is Interdisciplinarity: we prize this in all that we do. We have numerous examples of interdisciplinary teaching and research already, for example the Social Sciences Faculty working with Law on aspects of public policy, the Architecture Faculty working with Medicine and with Dentistry on the public health implications of urban design etc, but we want more: we are creating budget incentives to favour even greater interdisciplinary working, between departments, across Faculties and with outside parties.

These three intersecting Is, internationalisation, innovation and interdisciplinarity, all converge on the fourth I, impact. Impact is the aim of everything that we do: we have a social and moral responsibility to ensure that this is the case. All of us want our efforts to make a difference: to our subject area, to society and to our own personal and professional development. By assessing impact, we justify the investment of public money in our activities, as well as the massive investment of time and energy that a modern university demands and expects from its members.

So how are we doing? I recently presented to the Senior Management Team and subsequently to Council some analysis of the major international league tables over the last 11 years. I won't reiterate now my views on rankings, which are well-known and on the public record, except to say that I stand by my assertion that we will never set institutional strategy to meet the criteria of any particular league table. However, rankings are here to stay and we all know that they are widely used as a short cut: by prospective students, parents, governments and media. They are a surrogate for a university's international reputation.

The first point to make is that Hong Kong U's position now is quite similar to its position in the first rankings which were published 11 years ago jointly by the Times Higher Education Supplement (THE) and the Quacquerelli-Symonds (QS). We were ranked number 39 in 2004, compared to 30 and 44 in the most recent 2015 rankings from the QS and THE respectively. In the 11 intervening years, there has been quite a lot of fluctuation, some of it undoubtedly explained by the frequent methodological changes which provide one reason why rankings are so controversial and open to various interpretations. Hong Kong U's peak position was eight years ago in 2007 when HKU was ranked number 18 in the world. Stanford that year was number 19, so you can make up your own mind about whether that high point flattered HKU or not. The very next year, 2008, HKU dropped 8 places to number 26 (Stanford rose slightly to 17). In 2010, the two rankings agencies split and used slightly different methodologies but since then both of them show a definite slow downward trend for HKU, starting in 2011 in the QS and in 2010 in the Times Higher. There are various possible contributors to this: student-staff ratios influence the rankings and the 334 transition adversely affected these because the increased number of students was not accompanied by a commensurate increase in staffing. The fact that Chinese U and Hong Kong UST showed similar trends in this time period supports this as a contributor. Hong Kong U also had the possible impact on its reputation of the 818 incident in 2011. The fact that HKUST jumped above HKU in one of the rankings this year (the QS) has caused a lot of comment: in fact QS themselves said that this was largely explicable by a change in methodology, where an adjustment was made for the presence or absence of a medical school because having a medical school was deemed to give an unfair advantage via an effect on citations and other prestige indicators. Accordingly, HKU dropped by 2 places and CUHK by 5 places (it is noteworthy that Yale also dropped by 5 places), with HKUST rising by 12 places: sudden changes like this in rankings usually reflect methodological changes because reputations don't usually change overnight. It is worth noting that in the other major league table, the Times Higher, between 2014 and 2015, HKU actually did the best of the three local universities, dropping by 1 place compared to a drop of 8 places for HKUST and 9 places for CUHK.

Of course we have no way of knowing what effect recent events in Hong Kong will have on next year's and the year after's rankings: we will just have to wait and see. However, there is clear evidence that Hong Kong U's position has deteriorated slowly but steadily for the last 4 or 5 years. We need to turn it around by enhancing the University's international reputation: that is one reason why internationalization is so prominent in our plans. The other, better reason, is of course that internationalization will enhance the quality of our teaching and our research.

I am on record as saying that the ranking that matters the most to me is the fact that Hong Kong's brightest and best students continue to vote with their feet and want to come to Hong Kong U as their first choice for their university studies. The 2015 admissions results from the Hong Kong DSE, which accounts for about 75% of our undergraduate intake, were truly spectacular. There was a total of 12 students that scored perfect results, 5** in seven subjects: all 12 of these students were admitted to Hong Kong U. Even more impressively, of the 689 students in the top scoring bracket, nearly 60% were admitted to Hong Kong U, ie only 40% went to all other universities combined. Of those wanting to study Medicine, 82% chose Hong Kong U. Of those wanting to study Law, an incredible 98% (102 out of 104) chose to come to Hong Kong U's Law Faculty rather than the other Law Schools available to them in Hong Kong. This was an outstanding vote of confidence in the educational provision offered by our University. I am proud of the fact that we don't just admit students from privileged backgrounds: our First in Family scheme for all subjects and the Springboard scholarships offered by the Faculty of Medicine are examples of ways in which we ensure that Hong Kong U is accessible to the brightest and best students irrespective of their backgrounds or their family's wealth.

Our researchers have also had an excellent year: numerous high-level publications in the world's top journals, conference presentations at top international events, prizes and awards. To mention just a selected few, the Thomson-Reuters 2015 list of the world's most highly cited researchers included nine academics from Hong Kong U, compared to 5 in the previous year; no other university in Hong Kong had more than 3. Vivian Yam, our Professor of Chemistry was elected Foreign Member of Academia Europaea (The Academy of Europe), the only Foreign Member elected in 2015 under the Chemical Sciences Section of the Academy; she also won the 2015 Ludwig Mond award from the Royal Society of Chemistry. Chi-ming Che, also Professor of Chemistry, completed the licensing of two multi-million US dollar patents to Samsung for his work on organic light-emitting diodes, bringing money as well as prestige to Hong Kong U. Vivian and Chi-ming were amongst the 27 founding members of the newly established Hong Kong Academy of Sciences, together with Malik Peiris and KY Yuen (who were both amongst the top 1% highly cited researchers that I mentioned earlier) as well as two distinguished visiting professors to Hong Kong U, one alumnus of ours and three retired members of HKU staff including of course my predecessor Lap-Chee Tsui who is the founding Dean of the new Academy. Thus HKU has a direct claim on 10 of the 27 Founding members, far more than any other university. Just last night, we announced that Professor So Kwok-fai of our Department of Ophthalmology, has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Most spectacularly of all, Ngai-ming Mok, our Professor of Mathematics, has just been confirmed as a new member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the only Hong Kong scholar to have been elected this year, our first formal academician for 12 years and the first of any kind for 5 years, bringing to 12 the total number of Hong Kong U staff to have held this prestigious honour. My sincere congratulations to Ngai-ming.

I said last year that we would make progress on our work in the Mainland. One example is the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital: I have worked hard with colleagues here and in Shenzhen to improve the understanding of the aims and methods that will help both HKU and the Shenzhen government to achieve their goals. The first repayment of HKU's financial contribution has now been made by the hospital and a repayment schedule has been set that will see the debt fully repaid as the hospital's activity levels continue to rise and diversify. I am delighted that Hong Kong U medical, nursing and pharmacy students are now regularly benefiting from the teaching opportunities available to them at our hospital in Shenzhen. Research opportunities in Shenzhen are also growing. Our new Vice-President (Global) John Kao is working hard on our partnerships in the Mainland as well as other links all around the world. Our Vice-President (Institutional Advancement Douglas So has produced a new branding and marketing strategy and is working on the more proactive communications approach that I talked about last year. Our Executive Vice-President (Administration) Steve Cannon is addressing some of the issues that I highlighted last year by bringing forward radical reforms of various aspects of human resources policy and practice as well as new approaches to providing equitable access to staff accommodation for as many of our staff as possible. We are making progress on gender equity issues: we have improved our maternity leave provision, we are working on improving facilities for breast-feeding on campus and we are actively planning a nursery for children of staff and students. Our most recent appointment to the senior team, our new Associate Vice-President for Research, is female (Mai Har Sham). We are working with the other UGC-funded institutions to understand why the gender balance at the highest levels of the universities in Hong Kong is so poor. We need culture change across the sector to address this and I will continue to work with the United Nations Women HeForShe initiative to learn from other universities and from corporations across the world about how we can adopt best practices in this domain. UN Women's next meeting on HeForShe will be at the World Economic Forum in Davos next year. I have also been invited to the main Forum in Davos and it will be the first time that Hong Kong U has been represented at this prestigious gathering of thought leaders from politics, business, academia, media and international society. This follows from my attendance at the so-called "summer Davos" meeting of the World Economic Forum in Dalian in September and is a marker of Hong Kong U's international recognition.

I want to finish by saying something about academic freedom and institutional autonomy. These two terms are often confused or used interchangeably and they should not be, because they are different. Academic freedom is the critical underpinning of university life: the freedom to study, research, read, write and/or talk about whatever subjects that we find most interesting, stimulating or important, no matter how controversial they might be or how the findings may challenge dogmas or official viewpoints. In my opinion, academic freedom is alive and well at Hong Kong U. We do not however have complete institutional autonomy and nor can we expect it. We are a publicly funded institution and it is entirely appropriate that we are responsible to the public, and hence to the government that represents them, to assess, justify and adjust our activities according to societal impact and need. Publicly-funded institutions all over the world have similar responsibilities: look at recent events in universities in the UK, the US, Canada and Japan or schools in Korea: none of them have complete institutional autonomy, so no-one in Hong Kong should think that this issue is purely a local matter. We have to work within existing rules, regulations and governance structures to ensure that the University of Hong Kong achieves its potential. It is healthy to have debate about whether any of those structures should be changed, but structural change takes time and the University cannot stand still whilst these debates take place. We are not doing so: as I have illustrated to you, substantial progress is already being made and we have a detailed plan for the strategic direction that we believe is in the best interests of the university going forward.

My last word is on our students. There seems to be a widespread belief in Hong Kong that school and university students, and perhaps Hong Kong U students more than most, are difficult, rebellious, subversive trouble-makers: this is just not true and I need all of you to join me in countering this misinterpretation. The vast majority of Hong Kong students are hard-working, conscientious and respectful of authority. They are talented individuals working to improve themselves and society. No-one in Hong Kong should think that student activism is only a Hong Kong issue. In recent months there have been massive student demonstrations in universities in the United States about issues of race and fossil fuel divestment and in South Africa about issues of tuition fees, closing universities down in some cases. Our young people are passionate and idealistic and they care about the world that they are inheriting. We may disagree with some of their methods, but we should work with them, understand them, help to mould them into a generation of mature adults that can address the challenging issues facing their world. We must ensure that Hong Kong U is a place where complex and sometimes controversial issues can be debated, where differences of opinion can be respected, where diversity is celebrated, and intellectual, personal, professional and political advances can be achieved.

Our strategy document uses the strapline "Asia's global university". I have outlined some of the ways in which we are working to justify that title. Your input will help me and the rest of the senior management team to achieve our vision. Our university is already great: let's make it one of the greatest.

We are on our way: please join us!

Thank you.
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港大校長就學生包圍校委會會議聲明

港大校長馬斐森,就學生於2016年1月25日晚上至翌日凌晨,包圍校委會會議,1月26日下午發表的聲明:


Dear Colleagues, Students and Alumni,

On behalf of the Senior Management Team, I condemn the behaviour last night of HKU students who (amongst others) put the safety of Council members, including me, and University and security staff at serious risk, and besieged the building in which Council had met so that we were unable to leave for several hours. This is not the way to achieve progress: we will always be willing to engage in rational discussion and debate with students but we cannot condone mob rule. The actions were totally unnecessary because the Council had earlier, as announced in a press statement at the end of the meeting, unanimously agreed to commission a review into the University’s governance which was one of the central demands that the students had made publicly. The scenes last night will have further damaged the University’s reputation and they bring no credit to those involved: HKU students should be capable of better. Video images were recorded and will be made available to the police.


Professor Peter Mathieson
President and Vice-Chancellor

香港獨立媒體報道

BBC中文網報道

蘋果日報報導

聯合新聞網報道
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浸大校長趕獻傘畢業生落台「聽日揸八旗點搞」

1 : GS(14)@2014-11-18 22:10:03




■陳新滋模仿學生撐傘動作,稱舉傘上台影響典禮。



【雨傘革命 第52天】【本報訊】浸大畢業生繼續藉畢業禮發聲爭普選,身兼全國政協委員的校長陳新滋則繼續跟學生鬥氣。在昨日的浸大畢業禮,再有傳理學院及視藝學院學生撐傘,更有學生在台上下跪向校長獻傘,被陳新滋示意落台離開。他事後辯稱,畢業典禮神聖不可侵犯,又說擔心學生下次會揮旗。浸大學者批評,陳新滋忘了畢業禮主角是學生,他們只是表達心中訴求。記者:彭美芳 黃靜薇



香港浸會大學四日的畢業禮,共舉行12場儀式,前日已有畢業生在典禮上撐傘,被陳新滋拒頒畢業證書。昨日輪到傳理及視藝學院的畢業禮。


浸大學者:忘了主角是學生


傳理學院及視覺藝術學院學士畢業禮前,浸大傳理學會獲校友和教職員資助,買入100把黃傘及準備好黃色氣球送給進場的畢業生。一群應屆畢業生印制500張解釋雨傘運動的單張,派給觀禮的家長及學生。電影電視學系一名畢業生陳同學上台後,突然向陳新滋下跪,送上黃色摺傘。陳新滋猶豫片刻才接過雨傘,但未與他握手及頒授畢業證書,並揚手指示他離開。陳同學其後表示,只是想向校長送上小小心意,希望他接受訴求。另外,亦有一名畢業生上台時手持「我要真普選」條幅,校長向他伸手準備握手時,他則向校長鞠躬,並無接過畢業證書。陳新滋在典禮上臨時致辭,引用梁啟超的名句「十年以後當思我」,認為學生十年後回想就會覺得學校並沒做錯,並呼籲學生對香港和中國未來前途有所承擔。又引用另一句「獻身甘作萬矢的」,並解釋說:「我哋做大事,做任何嘢,有一個犧牲精神。我哋要爭取任何最重要公義嘅時候,我哋亦唔怕人哋攻擊,一千萬支箭射埋嚟,我都願意擋住。」他在典禮後又批評學生,指他們雖有崇高理想和抱負,但社會經歷不足,做事未必全面。今次如不阻止舉傘,擔心「聽日揸八旗點搞」,阻礙神聖典禮。浸大教職員工會發言人杜耀明認為,陳新滋只是拘泥於形式,畢業並非神聖不可侵犯,他忽略畢業禮的主角是學生,學生心中有強烈的訴求,校方也應予尊重。


陳新滋部份出位言論


要求撐傘學生「自重」:今日話揸把遮,聽日揸支旗揈吓揈吓,如果你係八旗子弟,揸晒八支旗出嚟,咁點搞呀?讀書人未必能做到大事:讀書人唔係得個講,空叫一句口號,而係要長時間、盡各種渠道去爭取。引梁啟超詩《自勵》喻不怕成為眾矢之的:我哋做大事,做任何嘢,有一個犧牲精神,我哋要爭取任何最重要公義嘅時候,我哋亦唔怕人哋攻擊,一千萬支箭射埋嚟,我都願意擋住。資料來源:浸大畢業禮、陳新滋見記者內容




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高層連環脫北北韓偵察大校變節歷來最高級「跳船者」

1 : GS(14)@2016-04-12 18:15:55

■金正恩前年視察偵察總局部隊的情況。



南韓昨天證實,北韓偵察總局一名負責對韓特務的大校去年投靠南韓,是歷來變節的最高級人民軍軍官;此外一名駐非洲外交官去年中亦帶同家人脫北,凸顯領袖金正恩統治根基有動搖迹象。南韓正密切留意金正恩會否再為立威,在本周五太陽節前後下令進行第五次核試。


南韓傳媒昨天引述消息披露,該名大校在去年7月8日投奔南韓,是繼北韓駐外國營餐廳13名員工集體變節後,朝鮮半島不足一周內第二宗矚目脫北事件。南韓國防部及統一部均證實消息,但對大校身份及脫北時間等細節三緘其口,消息透露他的軍階相等於人民軍普通部隊的二星中將,屬精英階層,已經詳細披露偵察總局對南韓特務工作的內情。



部門曾策劃「天安號」事件


偵察總局編制上屬於總參謀部,可向金正恩直接匯報,2009年2月由人民軍武裝力量部偵察局、勞動黨的作戰部及主管情報的35號室合併而成,專責特務工作,被形容為「人民軍要害部門」,2010年致46名南韓官兵死亡的「天安號」軍艦沉沒事件、前年Sony影業公司因電影《刺殺金正恩》遭網絡黑客攻擊,相信皆由偵察總局策劃。局長原本是軍部鷹派人物金英哲,自他頂替去年底死於車禍的金養建、升任黨中央書記兼統戰部長後,局長一職懸空至今。北韓高層人員投奔南韓曾有先例但不算常見,最高級要數黃長燁,他曾任最高人民會議議長、勞動黨書記及金日成綜合大學校長,曾是金正恩亡父金正日及姑姐金敬姬老師,1997年走進南韓駐北京大使館尋求政治庇護,其後積極參與反金正日政權運動,有指偵察總局曾派人暗殺他,2010年於首爾寓所病逝。



金正恩本周或再核試


韓戰結束至今估計多達3萬北韓人變節,金正恩上台後加強朝中邊境管制,令變節者數目由高峰期每年逾2,000人銳減一半,然而精英階層「跳船」有增無減,另一消息人士透露,北韓一名駐非洲國家的外交官因擔心政治清洗危害人身安全,去年5月帶着三名家人投奔南韓;前年亦有一名駐東南亞國家的北韓外交官投誠。外交人員與軍官相繼叛變,分析認為反映金正恩統治根基正在動搖。南韓青瓦台發言人鄭然國昨天透露,當局正密切關注北韓在周五太陽節,即已故領導人金日成冥壽日前後進行第五次核試的可能。平壤在今年1月金正恩生日前兩天進行第四次核試,2月又在金正日冥壽前9天發射遠程導彈,輿論認為平壤很大可能趁太陽節再有動作。韓聯社/《南韓時報》/《朝鮮日報》





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洩密風波 港大校委會禁令獲批 記協遺憾:進一步削弱新聞自由

1 : GS(14)@2016-07-09 06:57:17

■高院昨頒令禁止公開港大去年6至10月校委會會議內容;圖為去年7月有學生闖入會議室。


【本報訊】香港大學校委會會議內容洩密風波,港大向法庭申請永久禁制公開去年6至10月的會議內容。高等法院昨頒下禁制令,指即使部份會議內容已外洩,但仍有大部份沒公開,會議的保密性沒被破壞;亦不認為即使公開餘下內容,就能揭示特首有否干預委任陳文敏任副校的決定,故不涉公眾利益。加入訴訟的香港記者協會對判決感極度失望。記者:黃幗慧


■陳文敏去年被否決委任港大副校長。資料圖片


港大歡迎法庭裁決。記協發聲明指對判決深表遺憾及極度失望,認為這先例,會進一步削弱已被日漸蠶食的新聞自由;主席岑倚蘭表示會研究是否作行動跟進事件。高院法官林雲浩在判詞指,因校委會會議內容涉商業秘密、個別人士聲譽及私隱等,故有保密責任保護會議內容,否則造成寒蟬效應,與會人士不能暢所欲言。




公開內容不能證干預任命


有份參與訴訟的記協陳詞時指,會議內容涉公眾利益,因關乎特首有否干預委任副校的決定。但法官不認同,指會議內容不涉特首與校委會之間的對話溝通,即使公開未外洩的內容,也不見得能透露有否政治干預。雖然會議內容已外洩,但去年9月29日否決委任陳文敏的會議上,尚有大部份內容未公開,故法官認為餘下內容仍須保密。法官承認禁制令對傳媒有間接影響,限制言論自由,但平衡保密責任的重要性後,認為頒下禁制令,保護大學的保密權利是合理及必須。禁制令覆蓋去年6月30日至10月30日的校委會會議,但因校委會學生代表馮敬恩曾公開部份會議內容,包括指李國章質疑陳文敏沒博士學位、紀文鳳批評陳操守有問題、商台兩次播放會議錄音涉李與紀在會上的講話,及後台灣網站亦有會議錄音流出,故已在公眾領域的內容,不受禁制令所限。商台原列為被告,但商台去年11月承諾不再播錄音,故針對商台的禁制令獲撤銷。浸大新聞系助理教授杜耀明回覆查詢時指,他認同公開會議內容會造成寒蟬效應,但同時可令「大家(與會者)唔敢亂講嘢」。他認為港大不是私立大學,基本上應假定會議內容能公開,然後再因應是否涉及私隱等問題,而保密相關內容,他亦指判詞沒有討論實際上應如何平衡新聞自由與保密責任。杜認為判決只會鼓勵更多人將保密內容放在公眾領域,以避開限制。案件編號:HCMP2801/15





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【美圖晒晒】長髮大眼深大校花 獲網民封「真‧女神」

1 : GS(14)@2016-07-13 05:15:41

深圳大學校花章樂韻,網名Larinabella,典型長髮大眼高挑兼具氣質靚女,被網民稱作「真.女神」,充滿陽光氣色。新浪微博





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【港大校花】玩Cosplay成名

1 : GS(14)@2016-09-13 08:04:20

出爐港姐冠軍馮盈盈現年22歲,中學就讀於寶血會上智英文書院,在2011年考獲香港青年獎勵計劃銀章,翌年獲香港大學取錄,修讀食物及營養學系,今年畢業後參選香港小姐。馮盈盈於中學開始兼職模特兒,不時以角色扮演造型出席活動,被網民封為「港大校花」及「食營女神」,今年初曾參加《百變美人季》大中華總決賽及亞太區總決賽奪得冠軍。




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