After completing two whirlwind
terms in office, and serving as Acting
Dean for a further 18 months,
Professor Houmin Yan's Deanship
came to a close at the end of June.
Driven by a new strategic vision,
Professor Yan's long and eventful
tenure saw new programmes
launched, partnerships forged,
research centres established, and
ground-breaking interdisciplinary
research projects introduced.
Altogether, Professor Yan's watch
has been an extraordinarily
productive and fruitful one for the
College of Business.
From the very start it was clear
that Professor Yan's vision was
for a College rich in collegiate
character. The City Seminar
series was established to explore
the wellsprings of wisdom
and discuss diverse fields of
knowledge. Some 33 seminars
later the series has borne a rich
and varied fruit. A multitude of
themes have been introduced by
lively and informative speakers to appreciative audiences across the
spectrum of College stakeholders.
Professor Yan's tenure placed
the College at the centre of a
veritable ferment of international
programme initiatives. CB forged
collaborations with leading
institutions such as National
Taiwan University, Columbia
University and Tsinghua University
– but curriculum renewal didn't
stop there. Professor Yan followed
"The road less travelled" in
initiating major restructurings of
our flagship programmes such as
the BBA, as well as introducing the
elite BSc Computational Finance
and Financial Technology and BBA
Global Business programmes, and
a revamped MBA, all of which
have helped attract more top-class
students to CityU.
Over the years, the College has
played a full part in international
affairs, co-organising along
with the University the UNECE
International Forum on people-first PPPs for Sustainable
Development Goals. Building on
the United Nations connection, in
June 2017, the College delivered
its first PPP training for business
executives at the UN Headquarters
in Geneva. In 2018, a growing
interest in Public-private
partnerships along the Belt and
Road saw the College join hands
with the School of Public Policy
and Management of Tsinghua
University to launch Asia's first
EMBA + MPA programme. And in
January 2019, Professor Yan was
invited to speak at the Third Belt
and Road Forum, as part of the
World Economic Forum held in
Davos, Switzerland.
We express our profound thanks
to Professor Yan for his massive
contribution to the success of the
College over the past seven years,
and look forward to his continuing
input as Chair Professor in the
Department of Management
Sciences.
