HKUST Annual Report 2021-2022

Governance 46 In accordance with the HKUST Ordinance, the Council, Court, and Senate are the University’s supreme governing, advisory and academic bodies, respectively. THE COUNCIL Being the supreme governing body of the University, the Council has the ultimate responsibilities to ensure effective governance of the University. Apart from steering the University’s direction through the formulation of its strategic plan, the University Council reviews the operating environment of the University from time to time, taking into consideration the outcome of the annual risk assessment reports and reports of different ranking agencies. Council has also, through various Committees each chaired by a Council Member, monitored the performance of the Administration with reference to the sector-wide Performance Measures (PMs) and institutional Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the University Accountability Agreement (UAA) which was duly signed by the University and the University Grants Committee (UGC). The Counc i l has i n-dep t h d i a l ogue wi t h t he Administration on the performance of the University through the analysis of outcomes of various ranking exercises, and gives advice to the Administration on how to improve the University’s performance in specific areas. As for previous years, Council has been actively driving the risk assessment exercise. Specifically, Council has highlighted some key risks for the attention and follow- up action of the University Administration. Based on Council’s advice, various offices have been actively monitoring issues related to various strategic areas, especially those related to land and human resources, and the reputation of HKUST, etc to facilitate next stage of development of the University. At the same time, Council has continued the review on University governance, from revamping the “Guidelines and Code of Practice for Council Members” to developing policy on the proper use of University’s title, as well as the examination of procedures and practice of Council and its Committees, for better efficiency. In May 2022, Council appointed Prof. Nancy IP as the fifth President which was another major milestone of the University. Council would continue to steer the direction of HKUST, with the support of the new leadership team, and riding on an array of new facilities including the state-of-the-art Shaw Auditorium and the enhanced research infrastructure which would help further attain the University’s goal to be a top-class