The Centre of Excellence in Higher Education Teaching and Learning Innovations (CEHETLI) project, led by EdUHK’s Co-Director of the Global Institute for Emerging Technologies, Professor Lim Cher-ping, has won the Bronze Award in the Power of Partnership category at the prestigious QS Reimagine Education Awards. This recognition highlighted the project's focus on collaboration and innovation to enhance quality, equity and efficiency in education.

CEHETLI collaborated with six leading Cambodian universities, the Directorate General of Higher Education, and the World Bank, to develop effective pedagogy, harnessing the power of online technology with an innovative ‘Teacher Professional Development’, improving classroom learning, and building the capacity of higher education teachers. Under the collaboration, a graduate certificate programme in teaching and learning was offered to higher education teachers. Using a co-developed set of resources in both English and Khmer, the project has reached over 1,000 higher education teachers and positively impacted the learning experience of more than 30,000 students across Cambodia.

Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi, who each won two gold medals in artistic swimming at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, officially joined EdUHK’s doctoral programme in October 2024.

To give the benefit of their experience to fellow students, EdUHK hosted a talk, at which questions were asked to the sisters, with topics ranging from overcoming challenges in pursuing their dreams, managing time effectively between academic studies and sports, adjusting their mindset before major competitions, to the advantages of being twins in the field of artistic swimming. 

When asked about their interest in EdUHK's doctoral programme, the sisters mentioned that they chose to pursue their doctoral studies at EdUHK to gain more professional knowledge, with aspirations of becoming international referees or representing the country in international sports organisations, or even working in the education sector to pass on their expertise to future generations.

As an Elite Athlete Friendly University, EdUHK offers flexible learning arrangements. When asked if they would explore the integration of technology in sport during their doctoral studies, Liuyi and Qianyi said they had previously benefitted from advanced technology while preparing for the Olympics and had gained valuable insights from training and competitions. They hope to merge their athletic experiences with research to produce meaningful outcomes.

To strengthen exchanges between teachers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, EdUHK has established the Principals and Teachers Synergistic Innovation Training Centre on its Tai Po campus. The aim is to build a normalised mechanism for the collaborative development of teacher teams. The training centre and workshops will enhance exchange among teachers and strengthening national identity.

At the same time, an opening ceremony was held for a training programme for primary and secondary school principals and teachers in Hong Kong. The event was co-organised by EdUHK and the China Education Society, with support from the Teacher Work Department of the Ministry of Education, the Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan Affairs Office of the Ministry of Education, and the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.

EdUHK’s academic excellence and impactful research has once again received international recognition with 49 scholars listed among the World’s Top 2% Most-cited Scientists and one also named in the top 1% Highly Cited Researchers List in 2024.

The World’s Top 2% Most-cited Scientists rankings is published by Stanford University. The total of 49 EdUHK represents an increase on the 38 scholars named in the previous year’s list. The expertise of the scholars on the list spans 17 different fields, underscores the University’s established leadership in Education, and also reflects our ongoing efforts to build capacity in emerging fields such as Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing, Environmental Sciences, and Languages & Linguistics.

Professor Jim Chi-yung, the Research Chair Professor and Advisor of Geography and Environmental Science at the Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies maintained his top position in the Single-Year Impact List and the Career-Long Impact List.

Meanwhile Professor Wong Ming-hung, Advisor (Environmental Science) at the Department of Science and Environmental Studies, has also been named in the 2024 Highly Cited Researchers List released by Clarivate Analytics, which lists the top 1% researchers, based on citations, qualitative analysis and evidence of community-wide recognition.

EdUHK’s international reputation has been further enhanced thanks to the results of three assessments by higher education analysts Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).

EdUHK has been rated as a ‘5-star institution’ and been awarded a ‘5-star certificate’ in the latest QS Stars rating system. This international recognition highlights EdUHK's excellence in seven different categories: teaching, research, facilities, subject ranking, employability, social impact, global engagement, as well as overall score. 

Furthermore, the University has continued with its consistently high ranking in education in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, in being placed fifth in Asia and 20th in the world in the recently published 2024 edition.

Also, in its first-ever year entering the QS World University Rankings: Asia, EdUHK has placed 212th out of 984 higher education institutions, putting the University in the top 25%. The methodology for this ranking is based on 11 indicators, including academic reputation, citations per paper, papers per faculty, employer reputation, faculty student ratio, international research network and international faculty ratio student ratios.

Continuing six years of success in international innovations competitions, EdUHK has made history at the 9th International Invention Innovation Competition in Canada (iCAN 2024), in becoming the first university in Hong Kong to receive its Grand Prize.

The University’s nine projects won a total of 18 awards at iCAN 2024. They were the Grand Prize, five Gold Medals, four Silver Medals, the Organiser’s Choice Award, the Jury’s Choice Award, the Top 20 Best Invention Award and five Special Awards.

The Grand Prize, the highest honour available at iCAN 2024, and a Gold Medal were awarded to the ‘Automatic Screening System for Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia with Auditory Tasks’. The project, led by Dr Anna Kam Chi-shan, Associate Professor at the Department of Special Education and Counselling, is a healthcare system designed to conduct hearing checks and screening for mild cognitive impairment and dementia among elders in the community.

These achievements highlight EdUHK's outstanding innovative capabilities in health technology, educational technology and sustainable development technology.

EdUHK held the charity stage production A Kid Story at the Hong Kong City Hall Theatre in November 2024, to promote the development of special education and inclusive education, and help raise awareness in society of children with special educational needs.

The production also raised funds for Project Aspire, a programme managed and supervised by EdUHK, which supports students with Asperger syndrome or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and their parents and teachers.

This was the fourth run of A Kid Story since 2010 and features young actors with autism, once again inviting the public into the world of people with ASD and their families through the story. The premiere performance and opening ceremony were attended by over 400 people. The event was sponsored by Mr Law Yung-kai of Bauhaus Holdings Ltd, Mr Joseph Cheung Wang-ngai, Mr Norman Chui Pak-ming and Ms Cleresa Wong Pie-yue of the Shang Sin Chun Tong Charitable Foundation, Mr Alfred C.Y. Chow and Ms Rita Lo Lai-yu.

A new centre has been created by EdUHK to transform its research into sustainable ventures. The Centre for Entrepreneurship and Research (CEAR) will enable faculty members and students to collaborate with the innovation and technology sectors, and thus transfer their research knowledge, accelerate technological innovation, commercialise their ideas and develop into successful entrepreneurs by incubating EdUHK projects.

The CEAR’s features include:

• Incubation resources: dedicated resources for incubation and collaboration, such as connecting research-based innovators, like-minded entrepreneurs and early-stage start-ups.
• Facilities, training and mentorship: office facilities, training workshops and expert guidance from professionals in tech incubation and investment.
• Funding support: a delegated incubation fund and fast track to other EdUHK seed fund programmes and partner incubation platforms. 
• Networking opportunities: regular events with external tech firms and incubators for business development and R&D collaborations. 
• Professional services: consulting, legal, accounting and company secretarial support.

Five EdUHK start-ups have already established themselves at the CEAR, in the fields of AI-driven music education, AI-driven strabismus diagnosis, educational robotics, metaverse and AI integration, and a collaborative generative AI platform for classrooms.