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| Source: SCMP |
The new Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Derek Collins, was recently interviewed by SCMP journalist and Arts alumna, Ms Enid Tsui.
He sees his job as making sure that everyone, and he means everyone, understands the value of an arts education.
“Arts research has more connections with society and business than are sometimes appreciated. A debate in analytical philosophy is just lost on many people. But the founding principles of philosophy – ethics, language, and so on - are things people can generally appreciate,” says Collins, who was associate dean of the humanities at the University of Michigan until he became the head of the 104-year-old University of Hong Kong’s arts faculty in July...
He picks his faculty’s African studies and Arabic language studies as examples of programmes that may be readily developed into one-stop-shops for local and Chinese businesses wanting to invest in Africa and the Middle East. “These businesspeople will need to contact people at HKU to get the expertise to interact with that part of the world successfully,” he says. Take note, Japanese universities.
More broadly, he wants to come up with innovative ways to produce students attractive to even the least likely employer of art graduates.
Back in Michigan, Collins was approached by Google executives who wanted to hire arts graduates with some knowledge of computer science. “They said, what would it take for arts undergraduates to take one course tailored to them in computer science? Not programming, but on big concepts like cybersecurity or e-commerce,” he says. Apparently, Google has enough code writers but want art graduates who are not totally clueless about technology because they “know how to ask different kinds of questions”.
That discussion with Google, which Collins hopes to continue on behalf of HKU, highlights the value an arts education can bring to business. “It is not skill-focused – maybe apart from music and the languages – but it gives you breadth and appreciation of different aspects of life and society. Over time, I believe you become more flexible, your opportunities become enlarged because you can imagine doing different things,” he says...
One aspect of HKU that irks Collins is the lack of gender equality amid the senior ranks of administrators. All 10 faculty deans at HKU are men.
“There are fewer women and [there is less] diversity in general in leadership positions. As a dean, I need women to be promoted, to occupy the highest academic rank. And then, if they have an interest or talent, to move them to administrative capacities. There may be structural challenges and they need to be looked at,” he says. “There is more gender equity in the States. I will tell you – women colleagues are fabulous managers. I want to be able to have them run schools,” he says.
He is on a five-year contract. In that time, “I want to be known as an arts dean nobody has ever seen before. I really hope that personally and professionally, I will broaden the perspective of what art is and how it engages.”
For the full article, please click on the link below: http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1860996/how-make-hong-kong-students-world-beaters-hku-arts-dean-his-goals
He picks his faculty’s African studies and Arabic language studies as examples of programmes that may be readily developed into one-stop-shops for local and Chinese businesses wanting to invest in Africa and the Middle East. “These businesspeople will need to contact people at HKU to get the expertise to interact with that part of the world successfully,” he says. Take note, Japanese universities.
More broadly, he wants to come up with innovative ways to produce students attractive to even the least likely employer of art graduates.
Back in Michigan, Collins was approached by Google executives who wanted to hire arts graduates with some knowledge of computer science. “They said, what would it take for arts undergraduates to take one course tailored to them in computer science? Not programming, but on big concepts like cybersecurity or e-commerce,” he says. Apparently, Google has enough code writers but want art graduates who are not totally clueless about technology because they “know how to ask different kinds of questions”.
That discussion with Google, which Collins hopes to continue on behalf of HKU, highlights the value an arts education can bring to business. “It is not skill-focused – maybe apart from music and the languages – but it gives you breadth and appreciation of different aspects of life and society. Over time, I believe you become more flexible, your opportunities become enlarged because you can imagine doing different things,” he says...
One aspect of HKU that irks Collins is the lack of gender equality amid the senior ranks of administrators. All 10 faculty deans at HKU are men.
“There are fewer women and [there is less] diversity in general in leadership positions. As a dean, I need women to be promoted, to occupy the highest academic rank. And then, if they have an interest or talent, to move them to administrative capacities. There may be structural challenges and they need to be looked at,” he says. “There is more gender equity in the States. I will tell you – women colleagues are fabulous managers. I want to be able to have them run schools,” he says.
He is on a five-year contract. In that time, “I want to be known as an arts dean nobody has ever seen before. I really hope that personally and professionally, I will broaden the perspective of what art is and how it engages.”
For the full article, please click on the link below: http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1860996/how-make-hong-kong-students-world-beaters-hku-arts-dean-his-goals
