CERCular: No.1 of 1998

This is CERC's fourth year of operation, and I am pleased to report continuing vigour in our activities. Some indication of the nature of these activities is contained in this issue of the newsletter.

At the time of CERC's establishment, the authorities at the University of Hong Kong resolved that the work of the Centre should be reviewed after its initial three years. That review has been completed, and gave CERC strong commendation.

The review panel worked hard, surveying extensive documentation and consulting widely. It was chaired by Dr. Tara Whitehill, Associate Dean in the Faculty of Education. Among its external members were Prof. Ruth Hayhoe, Director of the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). Prof. Hayhoe is very well known in the comparative education community. She is a Canadian, and is also President-Elect of the US-based Comparative & International Education Society. She is especially well-known for her research on education in mainland China. She taught in Hong Kong secondary schools in the 1970s, and is a graduate of the University of Hong Kong. We were very pleased when she came back to Hong Kong to take up the HKIEd Directorship in 1997.

Ruth's participation in the CERC review was especially valuable because she brought an independent assessment of our work from the viewpoint of an outsider. Among her remarks was the following:

"From the perspective of Comparative Education in North America, I have watched [CERC] ... develop over the past few years, noting the excellent communications it promoted through its pioneering websites, and being impressed by the critical mass of scholarship in the field and the contribution to the literature.... Perhaps the most compelling evidence of the Centre's high profile lies in the quality and reputation of the scholars who have accepted invitations to lecture, attend workshops and conferences, and participate in intellectual collaboration."

We thank Ruth for those words, which we find an encouragement and an endorsement of our work so far.

CERC was established to facilitate comparative education research, disseminate information, and provide a centre upon which institutions and organisations could draw for contract research, consultancies and training. The review panel gave CERC high praise for the extent to which it had achieved those goals during the first three years.

We aim to maintain our trajectory, continuing to contribute to the field both locally and internationally. Readers who do not know us personally might like to learn more, beginning with our web site: http://www.fe.hku.hk/cerc.

Mark Bray