I. Programme Director’s Message

First of all, for those who are in Hong Kong, I hope everyone is safe and life has been back to normal after Typhoon Mangkhut. With climate change, severe natural disasters would only become more frequent which highlights the importance of making good policies and the education for competent policy professionals and leaders. With the above mission, MPUP has just admitted a new batch of well qualified, motivated and diverse students. Coming from renowned universities, all of them are graduated with impressive academic and professional profiles and represent a wide spectrum of industries and professions in the public and private sectors. To align with the University direction of internationalization and thanks to the rising programme visibility, we have admitted a student from South Korea this year and have attracted some outstanding international students in enrolling in our classes. We also realize our vision of nurturing future leader by offering unique career support and professional development to alumni and students. This year, an exclusive Career Mentorship Scheme is introduced. Professor Annie Tam, Honorary Professor of Faculty of Social Science and former Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare, kindly takes up the scheme to coach alumni and students who are interested to join the civil service, especially the AO Grade. As time goes by, it is satisfying to witness the programme growing with international recognition. MPUP was one of the few major universities being invited to join the Third Asia-Pacific Public Policy Network (AP-PPN) Annual Conference 2018 held by Tsinghua University. Being recognized as one of the top programmes in the region, we would keep raising the profile and quality of our programme to a world-class standard. Last but not least, I would like to report some personnel changes in MPUP. Professor May Chu from Department of Government and Public Administration has taken up the position as Assistant Programme Director to assist me on programme management and development. Ms Joyce Chan, our EO, would leave her current position soon. I would like to thank Joyce for all her contribution in the past years and wish her all the success in her future career. Her successor is Ms Christine Wong, who is equally competent and effective. I encourage you to meet and know more of her in MPUP future events. While no teachers, staff and students would stay in MPUP forever, I would always make sure our connection with MPUP and one another would never end. This is exactly the meaning and purpose of this newsletter. Happy reading!

MSSc Programme in Public Policy (MPUP)

Department of Government and Public Administration

Newsletter

2018 - 19

ISSUE NO. 1

Professor Wong Wai Ho, Wilson Associate Professor and Director, MSSc Programme in Public Policy Department of Government and Public Administration, CUHK

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Newsletter 2018 – 19 Issue No. 1

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II. Programme Update

Congratulations to the Class of 2018! Term End Gathering 2017-18

Teachers and students gathered on 21 April 2018 to celebrate the hard work throughout the year and bid farewell to graduating students.

Academic Distinction Award 2018 In graduating class of 2018, Billy Chan, Ben Lee, Alicia Yi, Skyler Yu and Maggie Zhao are awarded Academic Distinction Award for their excellent academic performance. Congratulations for their achievements.

Outstanding Student Service Award 2018 In graduating class of 2018, Vera Cao, Billy Chan, Lina Li and Vivian Xu are awarded Outstanding Student Service Award with their contribution to the programme and the university. Congratulations for their achievements and special thanks for their effort in reinforcing the bonding among students.

Welcome all new students of 2018 entry! Academic Orientation for New Students –

Before the school year officially starts, all new students are invited to the academic orientation to meet the Programme Director and MPUP teachers.

Apart from getting to know the programme structure and requirements, students also enjoyed a relaxing mingling session with teachers and fellow classmates.

Student Profile 2018 This year, we have admitted over 50 full-time and part-time students with a good mix of background. Academically, they all came from major local universities, universities under Project 211/985 in mainland China and we also admitted an international student from South Korea. On the other hand, part-time students are working in different fields, such as government, disciplinary forces, private sector, media and educational institutions. We wish all new students a fruitful and rewarding learning journey in our Programme.

1 September 2018

Admission Scholarship 2018 For the Admission Scholarship for 2018 entry, 8 newly-admitted students are awarded namely Queenie Chan, Jessica Cheung, Hannea Fang, Selina Gong, Lynn Guo, Yuyue He, Stella Son and Retam Tam. All of them possessed remarkable academic achievements and/or impressive work experience. Recipients with full-time job engagement are also contributing to the society at work.

More photos are available here.

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III. Teacher’s & Staff Update

News from Professor May CHU Professor Chu has been appointed as the Assistant Programme Director of MPUP starting September 2018. Together with the Programme Director, she is going to bring the programme to the

next level in terms of internationalization, academic development, visibility, etc.

Professor Chu presented a paper on “Environmental Regulatory Innovations in China and Their Types” at the 2018 IEDRC Fukuoka Conference held in Japan in March 2018 and was awarded the “Best Presentation Award”.

News from Professor Kamen LEE Professor Lee, teacher of MPUP5412 Crisis Management and Public Governance, has recently published her eighth book named PR Intelligence («公關智商»). The book includes more than 140 local and overseas case studies on the area, discussing how “real-time” element brings significant impact nowadays. The book is now available at major bookstores.

News from Professor Annie TAM Professor Tam has been invited to be the mentor of MPUP Career Mentorship Scheme for alumni and students. Having a career of over 36 years in the civil service in Hong Kong and served a total of 15 postings, she shared with participants the expectations in civil service recruitment selection and also the challenges, essential capacities and skills to succeed in a civil service career. Not only the participants of the scheme, but also students enrolled into the elective course taught by Professor Tam would learn from her valuable practical experience to bridge the gap between theory and practice in policy arena.

News from Professor Wilson WONG Professor Wong has been appointed as the Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Master of Arts in International Affairs of Lingnan University for a period of three years (2018-2021). The appointment is a recognition of his leadership, with the support from all MPUP teachers, in making the programme successful.

Publication of journal article – Professor Wilson WONG & Dr Hanyu XIAO Professor Wong and Dr Xiao recently co-authored an article titled “Twenty years of Hong Kong and Macao under Chinese rule: being absorbed under ‘one country, two systems’” and has been published in the journal Public Money and Management. The article, featuring “one country, two systems” and the interplay between Hong Kong and PRC Government, has attracted readers and impacted scholars with related research interests. It is now available here.

Dr Litianqing YANG – New Teacher of MPUP5132 Social Policy Research Dr Yang obtained her PhD in City University of Hong Kong in 2017 and is currently a postdoctoral fellow in CityU. Her research interests are corruption and anti-corruption reform, local innovations, and civil service management. Some of her articles can be found in Journal of Fudan Political Science Review, Journal of Public Administration, and Journal of Guangzhou University (Social Science Edition).

Staff Update of MPUP Office Ms Joyce Chan, our EO, will leave her position in late September. The Programme thanks for all her contribution and wish her all the best and every success in her future career. Her successor, Ms Christine Wong, will join the Programme then. You will get to know more about her very soon. Ms Koey Lee, our previous Project Assistant, is repositioned as Project Coordinator to recognize her dedicated service in the past year. Despite the changes in personnel, the Programme Office is always ready to provide assistance to students and alumni.

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News from Ms Belle Cheng, Year 3 Student Belle Cheng (photo: on the right) has recently co-authored a book named «情味香港» with some other Chinese teachers. The book links Hong Kong local culture to the authors’ personal experience of living and teaching in the city. Belle interviewed two small food shop owners and told the stories about the two post-80’s who run business not to maximize profits but to care about the grassroots by charging a low price. Besides the business, the two owners also serve the disabilities with their own talents. The book, published by Infolink Publishing (匯智出版), is now available at Commercial Press. News from Mr Aaron Tang, Class of 2016

Aaron Tang has long been possessing great passion for traditional Chinese culture, particularly incense. Lately, he was featured in the programme “The Green Room” by TVB in May 2018. The video clip is available at here.

Aaron is also applying his learning from MPUP to promote the protection of Agarwood tree in Hong Kong and founded The Safeguarding and Conservation of Hong Kong Traditional Incense. He has submitted a paper to the Panel on Environmental Affairs of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong to urge for relevant legislation. The paper is available at here.

News from Mr Hugo Leong, Class of 2017 -Working as Researcher Hugo Leong works at the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, CUHK to pursue his personal interest on research after graduation. His major job duties are advancing high-quality research on public policies, promoting collaboration between the academic and policymaking communities, and translating academic research by CUHK researchers into public policies and research impact. The learning from MPUP is practically applicable to his work and he is keeping close contact with the programme on various occasions. Recently, Hugo assisted in organizing a public policy forum on Career Development in the Mainland: Opportunities and Challenges for Hong Kong Young People. Speakers include key Policymakers and researchers. The forum is expected to bring impact on policy design.

IV. Student/ Alumni Update

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News from Mr Liu Zhiyuan, Class of 2018 Liu Zhiyuan was selected as one of the five CUHK representatives to participate in The European Studies Programme in Munich International Summer University (MISU) in Germany right after his graduation. His counterparts all came from top universities in China, e.g. Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Fudan University.

Spending his summer overseas, Zhiyuan deepened his knowledge of policy studies by exposing himself to various topics, including the European integration, economic and other affairs of the European Union (EU), EU’s role and competences in major policy areas such as the single market, the common currency area, foreign and security policy as well as justice and home affairs.

Apart from studying, participants are encouraged to engage in a vibrant international student life on the campus.

News from Ms Lina Li, Class of 2018 Lina is currently the Office Manager at the Division of Global Engagement at University of California, Santa Cruz. Her major job duties are advising prospective incoming and outgoing students, providing support to international scholars and promoting internationalization by supporting custom projects at university and even community level.

The solid experience and learning in MPUP are practically useful in Lina’s career development. The comparative skill learnt in courses helps her identify the crucial differences in cultures. Also, studying with students from different backgrounds and being a student representative provide her a platform for cultural exchange and advancing interpersonal skills.

News from Ms Vivian Xu, Class of 2018 Vivian is currently a consultant in Hays, a global recruitment company. Her major duties include advising on recruitment matters and identifying suitable talents for client companies in banking and finance industry. The MPUP learning experience enabled Vivian to think in a social and comprehensive way. The class diversity shaped her open-mindedness and appreciation for unique talents of classmates while teachers’ sharing broadened her horizon. She found all these beneficial to her work. In particular, she considered the course ‘Crisis Management and Public Governance’ widely applicable to her job in handling relationship and also to her personal growth of self-image building.

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V. Past Events

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3rd Asia-Pacific Public Policy Network (AP-PPN) Annual Conference 2018

Visit to Legislative Council and Dialogue with Secretary

Please visit our website at here to view more of our news and events.

MPUP was one of the few major Hong Kong institutions invited to join the Third Asia-Pacific Public Policy Network Annual Conference from 30 March to 1 April at Tsinghua University, Beijing.

Professor Wilson Wong, MPUP Programme Director, introduced the Programme at the Plenary Session of Master Programme of Public Policy in Asian Pacific.

There was a Roundtable Session on Teaching Public Policy Analysis in Asian-Pacific Region in which top scholars in the field exchanged ideas and shared their teaching experience.

MPUP made use of this good platform to observe and learn from the best practice.

MPUP (on the left) had its poster displayed at the venue throughout the conference.

The visit to Legislative Council (LegCo) was led by Mr Lee Wing Tat, MPUP course teacher and former LegCo member. The Honorable Lam Cheuk Ting, serving LegCo member of New Territories East Constituency, guided the group to the Chamber, Public Gallery, Memory Lane, the garden and the office of his team.

In the later half of the visit, Dr Law Chi Kwong, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, met the group and shared on his work, including the latest policy development and the related opportunities and challenges. Students also benefited from the subsequent interactive discussions with the top government official.

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VI. Upcoming Events

MPUP LinkedIn group: MSSc Programme in Public Policy, CUHK

Keep in touch by letting us know if your contact number or email is changed. (Email: publicpolicy@cuhk.edu.hk)

If there is any information you would like to share in the "Student / Alumni Update" section of the next issue, please feel free to contact us.

“Interdisciplinary Education in Public Policy:

Contributing knowledge for long-term human development”

Renewable Energy Workshop – 31 October 2018 The workshop will focus on energy transition and renewables. Over 10 scholars from abroad will be presenting in the workshop. More details will follow by email.

Public Policy Forum on ‘Engaging Policymakers Successfully with Research: International and Hong Kong Experience in Environment and Sustainability’ – 1 November 2018 Featuring the theme of environment and sustainability, outstanding scholars, researchers, and policymakers from both overseas and Hong Kong are invited to share their experience and cases of policy engagement in this area. Lessons of both success and failure in policy engagement would be discussed. It is a good platform to learn, then generalize and apply the knowledge and strategies of policy engagement and collaboration in environment and sustainability to other policy areas.

VII. Stay Connected