LINGNAN UNIVERSITY
UGC Management Review of Lingnan University
Progress Report
Preamble
1.
Having gone through the Teaching and Learning Quality Panel Review in September 1996 and the Institutional Review in January 1998, Lingnan had set its course for a major reengineering of its academic governance and administrative structure and in 1999 rigorously prepared itself for the necessary legislative process to university title. A university wide strategic plan was formulated with the direction and strategies for the
University to move forward as a small scale liberal arts university of 2,100 students and a staff force of a little less than 400 about 140 of whom are teaching staff. Lingnan was in the midst of the aforesaid processes when the UGC Management Review Panel (the Review
Panel) visited Lingnan University in August 1998 and subsequently in April 1999. The
Review Panel found in Lingnan a vibrant tertiary institution shaping its future with confidence, and with support of its staff. Three months later in July 1999, Lingnan obtained the university title with the enactment of the Lingnan University Ordinance.
2.
The Review Panel endorsed in its report published in August 1999 the University’s various changes and measures aiming at improving its administrative effectiveness and quality of its management processes. The top-down and bottom-up approach in formulating the
University general strategic plan provided opportunities for staff members to express their views, and understand why changes are necessary and why they should participate in the changes. The Panel endorsed the new resources allocation process, the one-line budget system, to be implemented for its first phase in 1999/2000, and observed that administrative units began to develop a good service culture putting customer satisfaction first. The
Review Panel also observed that the University had set up mechanisms, such as the business plan cum annual evaluation report cycle, to monitor progress and to evaluate results, and started to establish a new management information system. The Review Panel considered that Lingnan had taken the first step in the right direction and encouraged
Lingnan to continue with the momentum gained thus far to improve its administrative and management processes.
3.
The Review Panel also made the following key suggestions for Lingnan:
(a) In developing its overall strategic plan, Lingnan should consider including one or more representatives from outside the University in any developing or updating exercise for
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the strategic plan. The knowledge and opinion of the Council as well as other key stakeholders such as employers within Hong Kong should be drawn.
(b) Before implementing the second phase of the new resources allocation system (the one-line budget), Lingnan should put in place a relevant work schedule, performance goals and staff training (especially for Department Heads) necessary for the implementation work. The top-slicing for the President could be expanded in amount and in flexibility so as to facilitate attainment of the overall strategic goals.
(c) With regard to implementation of plans, a strong link between the University overall strategic plan and the individual departmental strategic plans should be established.
The performance goals should be used to monitor progress of implementation.
(d) The Council could play a more active role in the directional and policy matters of the
University.
(e) After the restructuring of administrative units, a job evaluation exercise should be conducted for all non-academic staff members so as to formulate a clear set of job descriptions. There should be a clear set of staff development scheme to complement the job descriptions.
(f) Organisation and procedure reviews should be developed into a regular mechanism to monitor progress of work and improve administrative effectiveness.
4. The University has continued the processes of improving administrative effectiveness on the basis of the six management principles as suggested by the Review Panel. Progress thus made is tabulated in the Annex. A focused description of various aspects of the processes is given in the following paragraphs also in six areas:
Development of the Strategic Plan
5. To monitor progress, the University management conducted a review of its general strategic plan (1997-2002) in the second half of 2000. Departments and units were requested to conduct periodic review of progress of work since 1997, rearrange priorities and adjust targets if necessary. They were also requested to check whether their individual strategic plans were compatible with the overall strategic plan. All units were further requested to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of their strategic plans in 2000 after three years of implementation. They later submitted an evaluation report to the review committee chaired by the Vice-President. Outcomes of the deliberations of the
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review Committee were submitted for consideration by the senior management at a retreat, at which all the department and unit heads attended. This comprehensive evaluation would serve as the first step for the new University Strategic Plan for 2002-2007, which is now under drafting. The process was transparent and involved participation of a majority of the academic and administrative staff members.
6. The first Council appointed after Lingnan obtained university title has played a significant role in the directional and policy matters of Lingnan. In the past two years, the Council has spent sufficient time in three meetings (out of 10 meetings in two years) to discuss and deliberate on the positioning of Lingnan – whether Lingnan should continue the direction of developing itself into an internationally renowned liberal arts university with Hong
Kong characteristics. The Council analysed the general situation of tertiary institutions in
Hong Kong including the UGC funding system and its implication on Lingnan and competition among tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. The Council also studied the funding background, curriculum and degree structure, teacher student ratio of some 50 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. It arrived at the conclusion that Lingnan should continue to develop itself as a liberal arts university, while it should work hard to cultivate the understanding of the Hong Kong community on liberal arts education especially parents and students, and explore more funding sources to support its development.
7. In developing the new strategic plan for 2002-2007, Lingnan will learn from experience and seek inputs internally and externally. Departments and units will be requested to prepare their submissions with active participation of their staff members through general forum and departmental discussions. Emphasis will be laid on cultivating staff members’ ownership of the overall strategic plan. External inputs will be sought from members of various advisory boards, employers, schools and the Council members.
Resources Allocation
8. The first phase (general expenses) of the one-line budget system has been successfully implemented since 1999/2000. Departments and units are required to submit a business plan to the Resources Allocation Committee to justify their financial requests for the next financial year. The business plan of each individual department and unit has to link with the University overall strategies. At the mid year review, departments and units have the opportunity to adjust their priority in expenditure and request additional funds for their new initiatives. In preparing for the annual evaluation report, departments and units have to evaluate whether their goals have been attained and in case of unspent budget, to explain whether targets have been met or not. Departments and units have gone through two cycles of this system by now, and they are familiar with the resources allocation system.
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It should be noted that the one-line budget system has allowed departments and units to keep 50% of the savings for use the following year. This percentage was further increased to 80% in 2001/2002. This has proven to be an effective incentive for them to increase productivity and add more value for money for their functions. The second phase (staff cost) of the one-line budget system will be implemented in mid-2002, when the integrated administrative system will be put in place.
9. It is now clear to tertiary institutions in Hong Kong including Lingnan that significant budget cut is the fact of life. How to set priorities on the use of resources is the most important area in strategic resources allocation decisions. Lingnan is working towards establishing mechanisms to facilitate the process of setting priorities. The new resources allocation system on the one hand enables departments and units to consider how to focus their goals in close relation to the overall strategic plan in order to compete for the limited resources. On the other hand, the system provides sufficient flexibility for each department and unit to set its own priorities. Experience in the past two years has shown that the resources allocation process provided adequate transparency and was welcome by the departments and units.
10. Another aspect of the resources allocation system is the use of top-slicing. With the permission of the UGC that institutions can keep the surplus gained in the past triennium, the President has a good size of funds available to him to further the achievement of the overall strategic objectives, such as widening the spectrum of the curriculum, improving the teacher-student ratio. The President is working with the senior management to formulate the strategy on how to make use of the surplus to establish for Lingnan a unique and effective mode of teaching and learning and improve its competitiveness among tertiary institutions in Hong Kong.
Implementation of Plans
11. Lingnan is the only tertiary institution in Hong Kong that has a two-tier academic governance i.e. without the faculty layer in its governance structure. Having had direct communication with the department heads, the President has first-hand knowledge of the directions and needs of the departments. The President is also assisted by the two
Associate Vice-Presidents and Academic Deans, who are responsible for the directional and policy matters and supervise implementation of plans of the departments. The two-tier system has been working smoothly and effectively and a good working relationship between the central administration and the department heads has been established. This has led to changes in the departments to become more mission-oriented in their academic development. For example, the General Education Programme has
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changed into a more focused programme providing a wide spectrum of subject choices for students. It has been easier to re-locate academic staff according to their expertise. New departments such as Cultural Studies and Philosophy have been established with good support from the staff members concerned. To maintain continuous improvement of the effectiveness of the two-tier system, the President has recently set up a working group to review the system with a view to strengthening the relationship of the Academic Deans and the department heads.
12. From submissions of departments and units for preparing this report, it is quite clear that most of the administrative units have developed mechanisms to monitor implementations of plans, accountability of responsible personnel and evaluate outcomes of monitoring the implementation of operational plans within the units. This process has produced good results in that staff members are more aware of their targets and why they have to accomplish them within certain timeframe. It should be noted that this good administrative experience will be shared by all the administrative units.
Roles, Responsibilities and Training
13. The re-engineering of the major administrative units continued following the dis-establishment of the former College Secretariat in January 1999. Lingnan commissioned in May 1999 the Hay Management Consultants Hong Kong Limited to conduct a job evaluation exercise for benchmark positions as well as review of the organisational effectiveness of the administrative units. The Hay Management
Consultants submitted its report in October 1999 with recommendations on the job structures of various administrative units. As a follow-up on the Consultants’ report, the
University management appointed an Internal Review Panel (IRP) to engage in a systematic and analytical review of the job and ogranisation effectiveness of its administrative units. The exercise included interviews and discussions with staff members of the administrative units. There were constructive views on changes from the administrative units. As a result, two major administrative units: the Registry and the
Information Technology Services Centre undertook organisational restructuring by themselves to improve administrative effectiveness. Other units also took responsive actions to enhance their organizational effectiveness.
14. Another significant spin-off of the Hay Consultants report is a full-fledged job evaluation exercise for all non-academic posts conducted during the months of September 2000 to
February 2001 under the direction of a Job Evaluation Committee which comprised heads of administrative units. This was also a top-down and bottom-up process, in which each non-academic staff was requested to evaluate the know-how, productivity (including
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problem-solving ability) and accountability of the post held by her/him under a standard set of criteria and weighting system. Through this exercise, the University management had the opportunity of gaining a comprehensive picture of the roles and responsibilities, and skills required of almost all the administrative and supporting posts in its administrative structure. A sound basis for planning of human resources requirements in future has thus been established.
15. Since the last Management Review, Lingnan has built a superstructure for an effective management mechanism: its academic governance is very lean – consisting of only two tiers; and individual administrative units have removed bottle-neck and made their own organization as lean as possible, e.g. the Registry. These have provided a solid ground for clear delineation of responsibilities and accountabilities in the departments and units.
Reporting line has been shortened thus facilitating decision-making at the operational level and improving quality of service. The improvement in quality of service is especially evident for some units such as those, which provide frontline service to staff and students.
16. With the assistance of outside consultants, the management has acquired the techniques of conducting job evaluation. In the aforesaid job evaluation exercise for all non-academic posts, administrative and supporting staff members obtained a thorough understanding of their individual posts including the required know-how, the problem-solving skill expected and accountability required. The exercise was an effective review not only of the contents and nature of the posts but also the performance of the incumbents themselves.
As a result, there was a proposal for a comprehensive ranks and scales system for all the administrative and supporting posts including clerical staff. This proposal will be a useful tool in future planning of staff establishment and staff development. The University management will continue to conduct job evaluation exercise at suitable intervals in future.
17. It should be mentioned that the job evaluation exercise did at one time cause concern to staff members. To address the concern, a forum was conducted for staff members to give their views on the exercise. The President explained at the forum the purpose of the exercise to the staff members, and gained the support of the staff members for the exercise.
18. As regards committee structures and review of terms of reference of the committees, the
President’s Office has conducted annual review of the committees under the central administration. The Senate reviewed memberships and terms of reference of its standing committees from time to time. The Council reviews the terms of reference and memberships of its standing committee every two to three years. They also aim to strengthen the smooth running of the respective committees and not to overburden certain members.
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Service Delivery
19. A service culture that focused on customer satisfaction has been established among departments and units. It is not unusual now that an administrative unit sends out questionnaires to its customers to gauge their opinions on the quality of service and suggestions for improvement. Most administrative units now have performance pledges of their own. For academic departments, the staff-student consultative committee of each academic department plays a role in gauging feedbacks from students on courses and teaching, as well as other student-related matters.
20. The business plan and annual evaluation report required of each department and unit provides suitable annual review of performance. To save resources, units have to see whether duplication of service should be eliminated or processes streamlined. For budgeted funds not spent, they need to give a satisfactory explanation to the Resources
Allocation Committee.
21. By continuing to improve its administrative effectiveness, Lingnan is positioned itself to cater to changes and broaden its service to the Hong Kong community. In response to the
Government policy of providing tertiary education for 60% of the relevant age group in ten years, Lingnan has decided to launch an associate degree programme in October 2001. In addition, Lingnan had established on 1 April 2001 the Lingnan Institute of Further
Education (LIFE) aiming at providing continuing education opportunities for the Hong
Kong community, especially the northwest New Territories.
22. With the experience gained in the past five years on re-engineering and improving the effectiveness of its administrative structure, Lingnan’s management has built into itself a preparedness to meet changes internally and externally. Most of its staff are now much better aware of the changing situation and are establishing a common understanding with the university management on directional issues.
Management Information and Systems
23. In the last Management Review, Lingnan has produced an IT strategy for the period from
1997-2002, which included a management information system on campus to serve the management and other departments and units. An Integrated Administrative System (IAS)
Task Force which is responsible for identifying the suitable software and subsequent installation of an integrated administrative system was set up by the University in 2000.
The IAS comprised major users who know what management information they need to
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facilitate their functions. Professional advice from outside consultants was also sought.
After a careful search in the local and international market, the University has purchased the “BANNER” system with $10 million from its reserve. The “BANNER” system is being used by more than 1,200 institutions throughout the world including three tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. It has a proven record of versatility and reliability, and is powerful in producing useful management information on-line. As far as Lingnan is concerned, this software will provide on-line reports on finance, human resources, course registration, students records and alumni services. According to the installation schedule, the financial system will be operational in mid-2002 in time for implementing the second phase of the one-line budget system. The student course registration system will be operational in time for new student registration in August 2002. When installed, this system will be the first fully integrated system for Lingnan since its inception.
Conclusion
24.
The development in the past two years demonstrates that the University has continued to work hard on improving administrative effectiveness and efficiency through restructuring of organization. The changes have taken place at a fast pace. Performance of departments, units and staff members has been monitored closely and with support of staff members concerned. In one case, a unit has been reviewed twice in two years time. All the above is possible because of the simple and lean organization structure, awareness of staff members, and most important of all the readiness of the institution itself to meet changes. Needless to say, there is always room for improvement, and Lingnan will strive to improve its management effectiveness continuously to meet future challenges.
VI_Adm/501/MR Progress Report as at 8.1.2002
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