A team from the University of Melbourne will hold

seminars at City University of Hong Kong between 25 and 28 October to share their experience of risk management in tertiary education with the Management Board (MB) and other senior management personnel.

 The decision to undertake this comprehensive review of risk management issues makes evident CityU’s commitment to adopting a quality approach to management, thus ensuring an enhanced learning environment for students.

 “We are taking the lead in Hong Kong in dealing with risk management issues,” said Professor Y S Wong, Vice-President (Administration) and the Chair of the Risk Management Committee (RMC). “As we are a responsible university, we must take risk management seriously because it is becoming very important these

 The University has invited Mr John Green, Assistant University Secretary and Risk Management Co-ordinator, and Ms Marina Bland, Risk Management Officer, both from the University of Melbourne, to host the seminars. 

 “We are a new university so we can learn from the experience of others. We have invited the team from Melbourne because of its strong background in this field,” Professor Wong said.

 “The purpose of the programmes is mainly to learn from good practices, and the visitors will brief us on key issues of risk management implementation,” he added.   

In the first phase, the aim of which is to improve the understanding of what risk management entails, the visitors will hold individual meetings with senior management figures and host two seminars, one for the MB, and the other for heads of departments and administrators.

 This will give the University and the visitors the opportunity to ascertain a general overview of the current situation and formulate a working definition of risk management in terms of CityU and its needs. The talks will consider issues such as why adopt risk management, what are the objectives involved, what is risk management policy and structure, how to implement risk management, and costs. 

Professor Wong said he was confident that the four-day visit would reap benefits for CityU. “This experience will help us to improve our overall management processes,” he said.  

At the end of the four-day visit, the team will meet with the RMC to discuss general observations and to give advice on the way forward. The RMC will then decide how to proceed in terms of developing a risk management policy.

The RMC was appointed by the President in response to a proposal from the Audit Committee of the Council in April 2005 that the MB introduce a risk management policy and associated mechanisms to identify and monitor risks. Members include Professor Peter Malanczuk, Dean of School of Law; Professor James Moy, Dean of School of Creative Media; and Ms Libby Chow, Head of Internal Audit.

The members will advise the MB on risk management issues; develop a risk management strategy and monitor its implementation; promote a culture of risk management and awareness; and report progress and achievements to the MB.