編按：近年香港大學風波不斷，去年11月30日（星期三）香港大學畢業生議會舉辦了與校委會主席夜談，主題為「港大的過去、現在與未來」，邀請香港大學校委會主席李國章擔任講者，分享他對港大發展看法，以下為李氏當日的演講內容，原文為英文（見附錄）：
非常感謝大家邀請我出席這個聚會，一同討論港大的現況。這所大學是我們都關心和重視的，也一直在香港享有特殊的地位。
身為港大的校委會主席，我深感榮幸，希望可以藉今晚的機會，與大家分享我對大學的一些看法。
我會集中審視港大的過去、現在和將來。
過去
只不過是十年前，港大毫無疑問仍是香港最頂尖的大學，更擠身世界前列20所高等學府。
再在此之前，香港只有約2％或3％的高中生能考進本地大學，而港大往往盡攬全港精英學生中的精英。
港大畢業生的成就，也是有目共睹。很多傑出校友是香港社會的棟樑，各行各業的翹楚。港大畢業本身就是一種身份象徵，廣為香港社會推崇。
大學與校友的關係也非常密切，港大以其校友為榮，港大的畢業生也關愛母校，經常回饋大學。
現在
然而情況在過去十年間起了重大變化。去年，香港科技大學取代香港大學，獲譽為香港最頂尖的大學，令我們口瞪目呆，難以接受。幸好今年港大終於重奪這個首名位置。但這些年來，港大的世界排名持續下降。在一些調查中，我們甚至打不進世界前100名大學。我們又發現一些港大學生在公眾場合說粗話，喊單調的口號來發洩情緒，有些甚至向大學興訟，令人痛心。
如果我對大家說這所大學正步向衰落，會令人沮喪甚至反感。但我們必須誠實面對事實，否則難以正確地理解問題，扭轉劣勢。我不會以陳腔濫調來自欺欺人，說一切都很好，因為我們並非身處玫瑰園。我相信香港大學總能也總應做得更好。
首先，本地學生的大學入學率由以往的2％至3％，增加到現時的18％到20％，意味着有更多年輕人有機會接受大學教育，但大學新生的平均水準也無可避免地有所下降。幸好對港大來說，過往建立的聲譽仍足以吸引頂尖的本地生和優秀的非本地生。但建基於過往的聲譽可維持多久呢？我們並未如其他院校般積極向眾多中學推廣自己；我們只是沈湎於往昔的光輝，不思進取。
換句話説，我們變得自滿，不再渴望成功或覺得有迫切的需要去追求卓越，我們也不覺得有必要加強競爭力。
再看大學與校友的關係。大學不時尋求校友的捐獻，而校友的慷慨解囊總是令人感到欣慰和鼓舞。然而，我們有沒有發展更多網絡，以加強與校友的溝通，密切與這些重要持份者的聯繫？我們往往認為校友的支持是理所當然的，由是而變得更自滿。
同樣，雖然我們的教研人員在某些領域取得非常出色的研究成果，但大學理應尋求在所有學術領域都有同樣優異的表現。由大學教育資助委員會進行的最近一次研究評估，顯示某些院系和部門的研究成績，令人極其失望，為我們敲響了警鐘。
然而我們經常聽到的，只是維護學術自由和大學自主的訴求。我曾跟十個學院的院長會面，請他們給我一個例子，證明大學的學術自由受到損害，例如某些課程因政治壓力而被迫取消，某些研究項目因政治敏感而被迫放棄，某些文章或刊物因政治理由而被禁發表。但他們都不能給出任何例子。事實上，他們都同意，學術自由和大學自主在這所大學並沒有受到任何威脅。
所以，我相信那些聲稱要保護我們大學的人，只是以此為藉口，以掩飾他們的庸碌無能。當他們的表現受到批評的時候，就祭出學術自由為保護傘。我們未見真正優秀的學者會作這方面的投訴，他們大多是埋首於教學和創造新知。
與此同時，某些政黨和政客為了達成一己目的，利用大學來攻擊建制。大學確然是建制的一部分，而這些政客就以學生為棋子，在背後操縱他們以製造混亂，破壞秩序，情況實屬可悲。我必須強調，香港大學是非政治化的，我們也沒有任何政治議程。我們的使命是好好培育香港的下一代，讓他們都能獨立思考，成為負責任和有用的公民。
未來
面對未來，我們必須首先擺脫自滿，恢復對卓越的渴求。我們要製定明確的目標，鞏固大學的財政基礎；我們要繼續發展教研，改善教學設備和文娛設施，全面豐富學生的學習體驗，開闊他們的視野。在人事任命和升遷方面，我們要用人唯才，勇於作出艱難的決定，不受裙帶關係或政黨影響。我們要積極鼓勵更多持份者的參與，讓他們了解大學的近況和驕人成就。我們必須抓緊未來種種機遇，不斷向前邁進。
English Version
Mr Chairman, Alumni, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Introduction
First of all I must thank you for inviting me this evening to discuss with you the state of our University which we all hold dear and close to our hearts. HKU has always had a very special and unique place in Hong Kong.
I must tell you that it is indeed a great honour and privilege for me to be the Council Chairman and I am delighted to have this opportunity to share with you some of my personal thoughts of our University. This evening I want to look into our past, examine our present and the way forward for the future.
The Past
In the past, without any doubt, HKU is the top university in Hong Kong and has been ranked in the top 20 universities in the world and that was only a decade ago.
HKU takes in the best students in Hong Kong and at that time the students who managed to gain a place at any university in Hong Kong was only 2-3%. In other words HKU was taking the cream of the cream of HK’s youth.
Our results speak for itself. We have turned out distinguished and outstanding alumni who are pillars of our society today. Our alumni’s achievements cover all walks of life from many diverse businesses to all professions. To be a graduate of HKU is an honour in itself and our community recognizes such a reputation which is unsurpassed.
The University’s relationship with our alumni is very close. We look on with admiration and pride of our alumni and in return our alumni give great support to the university.
The Present
However over the past decade, things have drastically changed.
The HKUST have displaced HKU as the top university in Hong Kong. This is really unthinkable and unpalatable! I am glad that we have re-secured our premier position this year. Our world ranking has dropped year on year so that we are not even in the top 100 universities in the world in some surveys.
In public, some of our students can only express themselves in swear words and monotonous slogans and some students have even taken the university to court. This state of affairs has saddened many of us.
It may be undiplomatic and even annoying to some of you to state that the University is in decline. I believe it is important to face facts with honesty so that we can understand the problem in order to reverse the trend. I really do not believe in platitude by telling you that everything in the garden is rosy and we are doing well because I believe we can always do better.
First of all the intake of local students to universities have risen from 2-3% to now 18-20%. In other words more students have an opportunity to gain a university education but inevitably the average standard of university entrants would drop. Fortunately for HKU, because of its past reputation and I stress past reputation, we still manage to attract top tier students into our faculties, and we also fill up our quota for non-local students. In other words, HKU still remains attractive to both local and overseas students. But how long will this situation last? Unlike other institutions, we have not actively gone out of our way to our schools to promote our university. We merely rest on our laurels.
That example sums up the present problem facing us. We have become complacent and no longer hunger for success or have the urgency to do so. Nor do we feel the need to compete.
Another example is our relationship with our alumni. The University will go to our alumni for donations and the generosity of our alumni is very comforting and encouraging. Yet do we seek to develop more network and closer relationship with the very important stake-holders of our university? More complacency because we take things for granted.
Similarly in our research output, although we excel in certain areas but we should be excelling in all areas of scholarship. The recent research assessment exercise carried out by the University Grant Committee has been more than disappointing for some faculties and departments. This is indeed a wake-up call.
Instead we hear the demand to safeguard academic freedom and institutional autonomy. When I met with the Deans of the 10 faculties, I asked them to give me one single example of where academic freedom has been infringed upon such as courses cancelled, research abandoned or publications suppressed because of political pressure or political sensitivity. None of them can give me a single example. In fact they all agreed that academic freedom and institution autonomy are not under any threat whatsoever at our University.
All these so called protection of the University is a mere façade by some mediocre academics to hide behind their incompetence, so that any criticisms directed at them would be construed as an attack on academic freedom. We do not see our outstanding academics complaining about such things. They simply get on with their job in teaching and pursuing knowledge.
At the same time, some political parties and politicians have used the University as a tool to attack the establishment for their own ends. After all the University is indeed part of the establishment. Sadly they use our students as their pawns and manipulate them to create disorder and chaos as they have done in the past.
Our university is apolitical and does not have any political agenda. Our job is to educate our next generation so that they can think for themselves and be responsible and useful citizens.
The Future
For the future, we have to get rid of complacency and bring back our hunger for academic success. We have to make tough decisions in terms of hiring to avoid nepotism. We have to set targets to be achieved and putting our university on sound financial basis.
We have to continue to develop our teaching and learning experience for our students, including improving of facilities and amenities. High West is a good example of what can be done after inertia for nearly a decade. We have to ensure that our students have a global perspective.
Our staff must be judged solely on meritocracy and not by their connections to influential people or political parties for promotion.
We have to engage more with our stake-holders so that they know what is happening because our university still has a lot to be proud of.
The future holds a lot of opportunities and we must seize them to move ahead.
