Message from the Vice-Chancellor - Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore

Monday, 24 February 2014

Last week, I was back in South-East Asia for a busy week of activities.

I made my first visit to Hong Kong which is a vibrant, busy and always-on-the-move kind of place. As well as individual meetings with some of our most influential graduates, we held a very well-attended alumni reception. Over 100 people came. The guest list included graduates from 1974 all the way through to a young man who received his degree from me just two months ago.

I was in Malaysia twice. On Wednesday, the focus was on recruiting members for the University of Reading Malaysia advisory board. We saw some very senior alumni, who were very enthusiastic about helping. They included the Chief Executive of Public Bank and the Chief Operating Officer of Sime Darby, one of the region's largest companies.

Friday was spent in Johor Bahru. I had the chance to be with our very first students who are doing Foundation programmes at our downtown premises in Kotarayi Towers. Indeed, I participated in a class which was fun for me and, I hope, for them. The class who have been with us since September were a particularly lively, engaged and engaging group.

It was good to meet the staff over lunch and I had some really interesting conversations. Then we had the trip to the construction site. The 'wow' factor is certainly there as the construction work is coming on tremendously well. Now, you get a real sense of the size (300,000 square feet) and scale of the building which puts many of our UK campus projects into perspective.

I am now even more certain than ever that we are going to have a signature building that will be immensely attractive to staff and students alike. Of course, we have to attract them to come but there is no doubt that our facilities are going to be a real draw.

In between the two days in Malaysia, there was a day in Singapore. Our time there included a visit to the National University of Singapore, one of the most prestigious institutions in the world, to talk about fundraising and alumni relations. Although unplanned, our group happened to bump into the President of the University, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, and he invited me to spend time with him on my next visit to the region.

The second alumni reception of my trip was held in Hotel Fort Canning (previously the British military headquarters in Singapore). We have nearly 1,400 alumni in Singapore and, again, we had an excellent turnout at our event. I met some great graduates who spoke with pride, warmth and affection of the University of Reading and the Henley Business School.

A week away, with the sort of programme I had, is busy, tiring and full-on (not least because the eight hour time difference usually means that emails from the Reading end are coming in just as the working day abroad concludes!). However, a lot of vital business is conducted and - crucially in my view - I have the opportunity to reinforce at every turn our standing and status as a globally minded, and internationally highly regarded, university.

Sir David Bell KCB

Vice-Chancellor