Strategic Plan 2021-2028

Resetting Our Academic Framework: HKUST is wel l-positioned and wi l l continue to enthusiastically support members to pursue curiosity-driven investigations in any disciplines within our established academic scope. Such activities may be fundamental with no immediate prospect for practical adoption. In parallel, the University is motivated to facilitate mission-encouraged research and learning in response to numerous challenges and opportunities of great societal implications. We recognize that the success of such pursuits requires expertise across disciplines along with necessary institution-wide structures and resources. It is impressive that with the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the world, members of HKUST have stepped up and made numerous highly recognized contributions to help address the needs. Such societal missions can provide long lasting satisfaction and substantial encouragement to our research and teach i ng scope. A pr imary focus of th i s St rateg i c Pl an i s the conceptual izat ion and implementat ion of the dual support of both curiosity-driven and mission-encouraged pursuits, in systematic manners, through reimagined academic programs and structures. Clearly, increased resources and new physical infrastructure are necessary to encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration and to promote world leading ambition to our entire HKUST community. A system-wide framework is needed to address new frontiers and world-wide challenges beyond merely adjusting the existing framework. Uni ed HKUST - Complementary Campuses: The establishment of HKUST(Guangzhou) ② c reates an exceptional opportunity for new resources, organizational structure and physical settings needed for the systematic development of cross-d i sc i p l i nar y programs i n concer t wi th the disciplinary-oriented efforts on our Clear Water Bay campus. We envision a uni ed university system that capitalizes on the aforementioned duality while promoting two complementary campuses without duplicating academic programs, which are of separate legal ent i t ies of independent nances wi th no cross-subsidization. Under the Uni ed HKUST-Complementary Campuses umbrella, academic structures and degree programs are differentiated, the overall infrastructures substantially enlarged and updated, and courses and central research facilities open to students and researchers both ways. Even though the two campuses are of separate legal entities and nancial frameworks, faculty are encouraged and supported to collaborate and co-supervise students, and students will have opportunities to pursue degrees offered by both campuses. This way, members of both campuses will freely choose their research topics and related studies with University’s overall enlarged scope, with more exibility and better support. Accordingly, HKUST will continue to advance its role as a globally leading institution, and our faculty and students will nd an encouraging atmosphere for their passions and interests to better develop their potential. Upholding Core Principles: Ever since our founding days, HKUST’s position in teaching, learning, research and academic pursuits has remained the same. These fundamentals are repeatedly validated by our regular conduct as well as through internationally-benchmarked objective measures. We remain steadfast in our support for academic freedom ③ , and scholarly endeavors. We are determined to contribute our utmost efforts to the future of Hong Kong and beyond. 2 ② https://hkust-gz.edu.cn ③ https://www.freedomforuminstitute.org/about/faq/what-is-academic-freedom https://www.britannica.com/topic/academic-freedom https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2010/12/21/de ning-academic-freedom