Kai-Ming Cheng
Chair Professor of Education and Senior Advisor to the Vice Chancellor, The University of Hong Kong, SAR Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China
Kai-ming Cheng is Chair Professor of Education at the University of Hong Kong. He is also Senior Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor, concentrating on fundraising. He was Dean of Education and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University. He currently co-hosts the cross-disciplinary Strategic Research Theme on Sciences of Learning at HKU, which involves over 80 academics in various disciplines. Trained as a mathematician, he was a school teacher and a principal before he pursued doctoral study at the London Institute of Education. His research projects are initially about rural basic education in China and India, but have also moved into reforms in various systems, with special attention on higher education. He taught every Spring at the Harvard Graduate School of Education as Visiting Professor 1996-2006. He has undertaken various projects related to education policies and legislation in China, and participated in evaluation of major higher education institutions in Mainland China and Taiwan. He has been consultant with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNESCO and UNICEF. Recently, he advises on national reform projects in Swaziland, Indonesia and Pakistan, and participated in national policy discussions in many other countries including Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Columbia, Lesotho and Vietnam. He plays advisor to institutions in Japan and China on fundraising and internationalization. His recent research interest concentrates on the change in the workplace and the challenges to education. He delivers keynote speeches in various international occasions over more than 20 countries. Most recently, he has been appointed to the State Advisory Committee on Curriculum Reform which helps the Ministry of Education, China in the implementation of its Education Bluepring 2020. Locally, he is member of the Education Commission, and is instrumental in the comprehensive reform of the education system in Hong Kong which started in 1999. He is currently also Chairman of the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research. He writes a weekly column in the Hong Kong Economic Journal Daily and a monthly column in Shanghai Education.