Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) has appointed a mathematician and a Chinese medicine expert as its new associate vice-presidents to strengthen mainland academic affairs and knowledge transfer.
The strategic appointments of Tang Tao and David Fong Wang-fun will take effect from next month until the end of June, 2011, bringing the total number of associate vice-presidents to four.
HKBU president Ng Ching-fai said appointing associate vice-presidents would enable the involvement of more senior colleagues to take part in university management.
'It strengthens the university's senior management team in meeting the many different challenges ahead, including the 3-3-4 curriculum reform, institutional advancement, campus development as well as mainland affairs,' Professor Ng said.
Professor Tao is chair professor in mathematics and director of the university's graduate school and of the Peking University - HKBU Joint Research Institute for Applied Mathematics. He will undertake special projects focusing on mainland activities. Having joined HKBU in 1998, Professor Tao has won awards in several mainland collaborative research projects.
Over the years, he has fostered close links and partnerships with mainland academics and institutions, which will facilitate his new mission of promoting the university's activities on the mainland.
