Tam Sheung-wai, OUHK President Emeritus, passes away

Tam Sheung-wai, President Emeritus of The Open University of Hong Kong, passed away on January 1 this year at the age of 86. The university is deeply saddened by the news and offers its sincere condolences to Tam's family.

In a statement released by the university, it said Tam took up the headship at the then Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong (predecessor of the OUHK) in 1995. During Tam's eight years of service, he had successfully led the Institute to grow, including gaining its self-accrediting status in 1996 and subsequently attaining its university title in 1997.

“He later led the University to further expand its high-quality education for aspiring learners to cover full-time programs in 2001,” the statement wrote.

Tam has been presented with many awards and honors from different educational institutions around the world in recognition of his remarkable contributions to higher education over the years.

Those include the Prize of Excellence for individuals from the International Council for Open and Distance Education in 2001 and the honorary degree of Doctor from the UK Open University in 2002.

Tam retired from his presidency at the OUHK in November 2003 and was conferred Doctor of Science honoris causa by the University in 2006.

Yuk-Shan Wong, President of the OUHK, said, "Prof. Tam had dedicated his boundless wisdom and tremendous efforts toward leading the OUHK to develop from a distance learning institution to become a university and excel as a provider of quality higher education. His invaluable contributions toward our University will always be remembered and respected by everyone at the University."