In the face of likely dwindling public funding support over the next few years, City University has to find ingenious ways to generate extra income to help focused on its vision and mission. This responsibility has now largely fallen on the shoulders of Mr James Ng, Executive Director of CityU Extension (CTEX).

Mr Ng's new office oversees and coordinates the University's major "income-generating" units: the School of Professional and Continuing Education (SCOPE), CityU Enterprises Ltd, CityU Professional Services Ltd, and City University of Hong Kong Press.

"Generating additional income has been written into the 2003-08 strategic plan, Meeting the Challenge of Change, as one of CityU's basic goals," Mr Ng said. From now on, income streams from self-financing programmes, technology transfer and consulting services, and investment earnings are expected to make a bigger contribution to the University's recurrent income.

SCOPE has positioned itself to move up a few notches, both in the scope of its educational services and the amount of revenue it helps to rake in. To expand its reach, SCOPE will need a concentrated effort by the University on the associate degree programmes. Venturing into the expanding associate degree market will give students a "through-train" advantage when they, on graduation, look for articulation arrangements into bachelor's degree programmes, locally or otherwise. Meanwhile, it will also extend into the growing lifelong and professional education markets. One likely development in 2003: to offer executive training in the Pearl River Delta region, in cooperation with the local business community.

Two business firms, CityU Enterprises Ltd and CityU Professional Services Ltd, are also expected to play a bigger part in the income generating scheme. The former focuses on commercializing research outcomes-both technology and products-to the commercial sector, while the latter provides consulting and services to the community, usually in non-technical areas. With increasing CTEX support in marketing, both companies will be more proactive in making CityU's professional expertise available to the community.

The City University Press will start exploring the publishing of more "market-oriented" titles, such as textbooks and general books.

An entrepreneurial spirit should be encouraged in our staff, with suitable reward and recognition, to tackle the budgetary constraints. Over time, Mr Ng hopes, the University's "extension" work will make a noticeable impact on our bottom line, not to mention our real and perceived worth in the community.