Participants on the University’s award-winning International Leadership Development Programme visited Hong Kong University this week, and other organisations in Hong Kong.
The international visit was an opportunity to gather intelligence and experience of internationalisation and leadership practice in a different cultural context.
Presentations and discussion included how universities in Hong Kong are responding to global challenges, and also changes in secondary education, and how Hong Kong is establishing itself as a global hub for international student recruitment. Colleagues from Aberdeen also heard how research links are being forged with mainland China, and how leadership development programmes are implemented at universities in Hong Kong.
The aim of the University of Aberdeen International Leadership Development Programme is to enhance the operational and strategic leadership skills of participants, and thereby help achieve the University’s strategic goals.
The Programme, which won a Times Higher Award in 2007, addresses the challenge of succession planning through the development of a potential cadre of future strategic leaders, builds a network to help foster working relationships between senior staff across the institution, and develops links, nationally and internationally, with partners and other organisations.
University Secretary Steve Cannon, who led the Aberdeen group, said: “We were as always warmly welcomed by our friends at HKU, with whom we enjoy the benefits of a long-standing and highly treasured relationship. Our shared commitment to being among the world’s foremost research-led universities is matched by our commitment to nurture and develop the talent in our organisations, and create the leaders who will inherit the challenges we face in higher education across the globe.”