The Institute has clearly articulated its goals in recent years by placing a greater emphasis on scholarship and research. What headway have we made and how does the education community respond to this?

At the HKIEd, the academic staff are encouraged to engage in research that addresses the needs of local schools and the community. This focus has been recognised by the Research Grants Council and the school community. We are mindful that, in advancing this goal, we do not lose the fine tradition of the College days, where the teaching staff placed a heavy emphasis on teaching and pastoral responsibilities. The care and concern our academic staff give to their students is a distinctive feature of the Institute and it has a significant impact on student teachers' development. Our goal is to strike a balance between teaching and research. Good teaching needs to be informed by research, and our staff recognise that they cannot focus solely on their research activities. The academic environment on campus, with a wide range of lectures, workshops and conferences, is a vivid testimony to the ever-growing scholarship at the Institute.

Various surveys show that our graduates have been very sought after by school principals. At the same time, the community is bombarded with constant bad news about schooling. What is your reading of the current situation and the future?

In the last few years, a number of policies have been introduced by the Government. These included the Voluntary Redundancy Scheme among serving teachers, and increasing discretion in the use of funds by schools. The demand for teachers remains stable, despite the fact that the school age population and the number of schools have declined. However we still face a situation where the school sector continues to employ untrained teachers as there is an acute shortage of professionally trained teachers.

So far as the graduates of HKIEd are concerned, they are described by school principals as committed, compassionate and are clearly preferred. This is because our students have been socialised into the teaching profession from the days they start at the Institute. This helps them to integrate their learning to help their future pupils to learn. Such integration is a key feature of successful teacher education programmes.

The Institute has been battling with declining resources. What have you done and what is the current state of the Institute's fiscal health?

We managed the cuts by pushing forward our upgrading process. I am gratified that the Institute still maintains a healthy fiscal state as we have established a modest reserve. We have also developed some self-financing programmes and activities which in the future will become an important source of income. In 2005, we successfully introduced the self-financed Master of Education programme; and the preparation for launching a Doctor of Education programme is also underway. The Institute has also been successful in getting tenders, contracts and commissioned projects from various external sources. These are helping us to broaden the base of our income. Non-UGC income now constitutes around 13 percent of the total Institute income.