Professor Cheng, who is Vice President (Research and Development) of the Institute, is also known as “the observer of education reforms”. His “bottleneck theory”, in particular, is renowned within the school sector. Looking back, Professor Cheng categorises our research development into several vital stages since our establishment.

The first “adjustment stage”, fell between 1994 and 2000. The four former Colleges of Education and the Institute of Languages in Education, each with its own distinctive system, culture and personnel operations, required mutual adjustment in the amalgamation process. The Institute’s positioning at that time focused mainly on teacher education, rather than academic research.

We progressed to the second stage in 2001 to 2006, entering an era of “institutional development”. With the phasing out of diploma courses and the gradual launch of degree and higher degree programmes, we began perfecting our academic structure as we evolved. At the same time, our staff were actively upgrading their academic qualifications. By 2006-07, over 80% of our academic staff had attained doctoral degrees. Despite the lack of a university title, we were a university-level institution in essence, in view of our academic accomplishments, qualifications, curriculum design and institutional structure.

Professor Cheng regards the view that as a teacher education institution the Institute’s strengths do not lie in academic research, as an outdated misconception. In fact, in addition to our strong priority towards upgrading the quality of teacher education, since our inception, we have accomplished several research achievements which have exerted considerable influence on the education community in the areas of information technology capability structure, language education, school-based management, classroom teaching, learning and assessment, citizenship education, and the quality of early childhood education.

2007 however marked a new era — the “breakthrough and takeoff stage”. This stage saw our research capacities making great strides in both quality and quantity. Our refereed research output achieved a three-fold increase while applications for the General Research Fund and Public Policy Research Fund, both administered by the Research Grant Council, also saw remarkable results.

To realise the HKIEd’s Development Blueprint, which seeks to ensure our development into a university of education, serving Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific Region, we launched strategic recruitment exercises, appointing a number of internationally known scholars both locally and abroad. With our tremendous progress in our research capacities, we will be able to better expand and internationalise our postgraduate programme offerings to attract the academic elite in the region, further enhancing our status both regionally and internationally.

As our academic culture matures and research capacity becomes increasingly internationalised, we are no longer simply acting as an agent of knowledge transfer. Instead, we are rapidly becoming a knowledge creator. Meeting international benchmarks, our academic programmes will focus on innovative research, emphasising professional innovation and educational advancement, bringing about enriched and advanced knowledge as well as high value-added intellectual capital. As research specialists continue to join us at the HKIEd, they will help to drive us to a new stage in our academic research capacities.

Professor Cheng further stated that though all universities are now focusing on academic research, educational research should not be based on “armchair-critic” theories. In comparison, our research stands out for our “applicability” and “impact”. In other words, advanced knowledge created through research, should be applied to improve and innovate real-life teaching and learning. It should also help to enhance professional implementation within the education community, and optimise the formulation and implementation of education and social policies. Research of this nature, conducted by the Institute, will have a far-reaching impact on both local and international education development.