Introduction

In formulating our Strategic Plan, we are committed to the fulfilment of our role as a liberal arts university by offering both undergraduate and postgraduate students a broad educational perspective. In addition to utilising government resources responsibly, the University has been introducing new programmes in arts and humanities with both University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded and self-financed student places since the 2019-20 academic year. Also, our expansion in postgraduate education especially in self-financed Taught Postgraduate programmes has provided the University with additional resources to further enhance teaching and research.

The Strategic Plan 2019-25 has focused our initiatives in six strategic areas and the first three strategic areas, viz. “Enhancing Undergraduate Teaching and Learning”, “Expanding Postgraduate Education” and “Driving Research Excellence & Knowledge Transfer”, have achieved remarkable results earning the University superb scores in global rankings. Lingnan was ranked 1st in “International Faculty”, “Inbound Exchange Students” and “Outbound Exchange Students” among 650 universities by QS Asia University Rankings in 2021. We were also ranked 3rd in the world in “Quality Education” among over 1,000 universities by the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2021. In addition, Lingnan’s internationalisation was ranked 33rd by QS World University Rankings in 2022. Significant progress was made in Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2020, with 53% of our research outputs (publications) being rated 4-star (“world leading”) or 3-star (“internationally excellent”), more than doubling the 25% in RAE 2014.

Our progress over the past years, a testament to the hard work and commitment of the entire university community, has been encouraging. The University, while facing immense challenges including the emergence of new infectious diseases, will continue to strive to remain a global leader in quality education and impactful research for a better world.

Our 2022-28 Plan sets out how we see the University continuing to scale new heights and embrace emerging opportunities. To keep its Strategic Plans timely, dynamic and responsive to the changing environment, the University has decided to review and develop its Strategic Plans on a rolling basis every three years. In addition to strengthening the six strategic areas which were identified in the previous Plan, the University plans to significantly enhance its strategic cooperation with the Mainland by adding the seventh area, namely Deepening the Connection to the Greater Bay Area and the Rest of Mainland, to this 2022-28 Plan to emphasise the University’s ongoing efforts in exploring development opportunities in Mainland China.

Implementing and delivering this Plan will require us to be ever more responsive, dynamic, forward-looking and increasingly agile in our approach. The strategic goals and areas defined in this Plan demonstrate our commitment to achieving our vision to excel as a leading Asian liberal arts university with international recognition, distinguished by outstanding teaching, learning, scholarship and community engagement. The level of engagement and enthusiasm shown by the entire university community in developing this Plan gives us confidence that we shall accomplish what has been planned for the future.