Similar teaching and learning benefits are expected from the HKIEd Jockey Club Primary School. Preparations were well under way during the year for its opening in September 2002. The school will be housed in a purpose-built premises on campus. The project has been funded by a generous $92.74 million donation from the Hong Kong Jockey Club, for which we were most grateful.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club also generously supported the conversion of staff quarters to student quarters. In September 2001, 500 students moved into the refurbished quarters. Another project was the renting and refurbishment of an extension to the Institute' Town Centre in Tai Kok Tsui to accommodate the new intake of Associate Degree students.

Strengthening the staff profile
Society's expectations of schools and school teachers are changing rapidly and Government seeks to continuously upgrade the quality of the teaching profession. A key feature of this has been the Government' goal of ensuring in future that all new entrants to the profession are professionally trained graduates. The Institute supports this policy and recognises the importance of ensuring its own teaching staff possess appropriate qualifications and expertise. Considerable support in the form of financial sponsorship and study leave is therefore provided to assist staff in enhancing their academic profile. Teaching staff, in particular, have been given high priority because of the crucial role they play in the Institute' future growth. In 2001-02, the Institute supported 117 academic staff in pursuing doctoral studies in local and overseas universities, and another six staff in undertaking postgraduate degrees in education. Nineteen academic staff have successfully completed their doctoral and master' degrees during the year.

To further ensure that the future needs of the Institute as an institution predominantly teaching at the degree and postgraduate levels are met, the Council launched a Management-Initiated Retirement Scheme (MIRS) and offered a retirement package to 35 staff. A Working Group was set up to explore the possibility of improving the retirement package for affected staff members who were on frozen pension terms and to assist the affected staff in seeking other employment opportunities. After making considerable effort in helping these staff and with the completion of the tasks assigned by the Council, the Group was dissolved in July 2002.

To further strengthen the staff profile, the Institute continued to appoint suitably qualified and experienced teaching staff in areas of current and future needs. Eighty-two percent of newly appointed lecturers and above hold doctoral degrees. All new appointees have had experience in university teaching either in Hong Kong or in other areas of South East Asia, Australia or North America. The Institute has been able to make strategic appointments at the senior level in areas such as Chinese, Creative Arts, Mathematics Education, and Science Education. Appointments of teaching staff have also been made with a view to more appropriately locating the Institute' programmes in the context of the current educational reforms in Hong Kong. All have been employed on contract basis, allowing for longer-term flexibility in staffing and planning.

Further details about the Institute' work can be found on the following pages. The Council has guided the Institute to ensure that every effort - whether it be in administration, teaching, research, school partnership or developing global links - is underscored by the desire to create and develop conditions in which students can reach their full potential.