World-leading scholar in information systems Prof Patrick Chau took up his new post as UIC's Provost in September 2023.
"We are all new in the age of Artificial Intelligence. The Age of AI celebrates the unique individual," he addressed UIC's first-year students when welcoming them at the inauguration ceremonies.
According to Prof Chau, UIC's liberal arts education cultivates a student's individuality, and in the ever-changing world of higher education, UIC also needs to maintain distinctive characteristics.
Profile of Prof Patrick Chau
Prof Patrick Chau is Provost and Chair Professor in Information Systems and Business Analytics at UIC, and was appointed "Chang Jiang Scholars Programme" Chair Professorship by the Ministry of Education in 2010. Prof Chau received his PhD in Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He was elected President of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) in 2021-2022. He was the first and only scholar from China elected to this presidency since the establishment of AIS in 1994.
He has also held Padma and Hari Harilela Professorship in Strategic Information Management at The University of Hong Kong, Qiushi Chair Professorship at Zhejiang University and Lee Dak Sum Chair Professor in Information Systems and Operations Management at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. He received the AIS Fellow Award in 2013, an honour from AIS extended only to a very small number of scholars in the discipline of Information Systems globally each year.
Prof Chau conducts research in IT adoption and electronic commerce and has published more than 100 papers in prestigious journals in the Information Systems discipline. He has been on Elsevier's List of Top 2% Scientists in the top 50 worldwide in his research discipline, Information Systems and No. 1 in the Chinese mainland.
"I came to UIC for its liberal arts education."
Before joining UIC, Prof Chau served at the University of Hong Kong for twenty years, holding various management positions including Director of the School of Business, and then as Vice-Provost for Research and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China.
"I came to UIC for its liberal arts education," he said.
Prof Chau appreciated UIC's educational philosophy, which draws on traditional Chinese and Western cultural resources, and its efforts to provide diverse student experiences. "Liberal arts education encourages interdisciplinary studies. It also takes students out of the classroom to experience cultural and international diversity," he said.
Prof Patrick Chau delivers a speech at the inauguration ceremonies
"Such an atmosphere is essential for a campus, because our students can learn more by participating in various activities like high-table dinners than merely listening to lectures. In this way, we can instil in them the habit of lifelong learning."
Prof Patrick Chau toasts at a high-table dinner
In Prof Chau's opinion, liberal arts education enables students to develop holistically, preparing them for future challenges and opportunities. Meanwhile, it also cultivates them to be a good citizen with a global outlook, responsible and devoted to human well-being.
Prof Chau noticed that nowadays, there are many science and technology-focused and research-oriented universities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), and the number of joint-venture universities is also increasing. He pointed out that the concept of "arts" is being emphasised as they yearn to shift their traditional STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) style of education to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics).
"The extra 'A' here is crucial as it balances with science and technology. For example, as artificial intelligence is applied widely, the ethical issues of technological innovation must be clarified and balanced by the humanities and arts. Liberal arts education balances arts and sciences and nurtures talents with distinctive features, which UIC is grounded in."
Triple engines accelerate development
Regarding future planning, Prof Chau hoped to focus on three aspects to take UIC to a new height.
The first is to recruit more outstanding scholars worldwide, especially senior academics to join UIC. "Outstanding senior professors can not only benefit a university in teaching and research, but also guide the young faculty members, creating a virtuous cycle," he said.
The second is to promote internationalisation. "Many international exchanges and collaborations were hindered by the Covid-19 pandemic," he said, "and we need to resume these initiatives. Thus, we are working to weave a larger cooperation network, increasing the UIC's visibility abroad and creating more possibilities for our students and teachers."
The third is to expand postgraduate training. "While we now have 8000+ undergraduate students, there are just around 1000 postgraduate students. More master's and doctoral students will be trained to enrich the liberal arts education while maintaining an excellent undergraduate education."
UIC's second-phase campus
He explained it further. "UIC has recently been approved to establish two postdoctoral stations for the first time as the only university in Zhuhai and one of the three Sino-foreign/Hong Kong cooperative universities. It is important to know that the cooperative universities are mostly science and technology-focused, and UIC is the only liberal arts university that is student-centred in teaching, learning, living and more."
Additionally, the residence halls of UIC's second-phase campus have been put into service, and the research buildings and teaching blocks are under construction, which will lay a good foundation for UIC's further development.
"The postdoctoral stations, the newly-established Institute of Advanced Study and the second-phase campus have all brought hope to scholars and students, and will help us recruit excellent faculty and admit promising postgraduate students."
Prof Chau also mentioned that UIC's research and teaching should align with international standards. UIC will encourage faculty to participate in research in not just science, business and humanities to produce "traditional research outputs" such as journal articles and academic books but also music, culture and creativity that generate "non-traditional research outputs" such as songs, films, drama, documentaries, etc.
Prof Prof Patrick Chau with Council Chairman of Hong Kong Baptist University Dr Clement CJ Chen at UIC
Regarding university management, Prof Chau expected more communication within and outside the university in the future. He said he would enhance communication and open up channels of consultation internally, as well as strengthen interaction with Hong Kong Baptist University to amplify UIC's contribution and influence in the higher education sector in the Greater Bay Area.
From MPRO
Reporter: Cecilia Yu
Photographer: Covee Wang, Season Li, Xu Haoran
Editor: Deen He
