Tam Sheung-wai (1934 – 1 January 2021)
OBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
,
GBS,
JP () was the President
Emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
of
The Open University of Hong Kong
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
.
He is widely recognised for his many contributions towards the development of
distance education
Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...
in Hong Kong.
He was also the Chairman of the College Council of
St. Paul's Co-educational College.
Early life
Tam received bachelor's and master's degrees in science from the
University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...
. In 1964, he obtained a PhD in chemistry from the
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...
.
Career
Tam joined
Chung Chi College
The Chung Chi College is one of the constituent colleges of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and one of the three original colleges that joined to form the CUHK in 1963. Founded in 1951 by representatives of Protestant churches in ...
, part of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), as a chemistry lecturer in 1965.
He served as head of the Chinese University's graduate school from 1981 until 1993, and as a pro-vice-chancellor of the university from 1990 to 1994. Tam retired from CUHK in 1995, the same year he was appointed president of OUHK.
Tam retired from the presidency in November 2003.
See also
*
Education in Hong Kong
Education in Hong Kong used to be largely modelled on that of the United Kingdom, particularly the English system. Since 2012, the overhaul of secondary school diploma has introduced changes to the number of school years as well as the two-t ...
References
1934 births
2021 deaths
Heads of universities in Hong Kong
Alumni of the University of Hong Kong
Fellows of Robinson College, Cambridge
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Hong Kong Metropolitan University faculty
Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong
{{HK-bio-stub, Tam, Sheung Wai