Prof. LI is the Deputy Director of Education Policy Research Center at the University of Hong Kong, Chairman of the Hong Kong Educational Research Association, former President of the Comparative Education Society of Hong Kong and Associate Editor of Education Journal. His main research interests include comparative education policy, teacher education, higher education, citizen education, Chinese and Asian culture and religion.

The lecture began with Prof. Li comparing rankings of research universities in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and the U.S. He discussed academic ranking standards across the world and how many times the research and academic outputs were cited. He pointed out that the current most three influential and authoritative organizations for academic rankings include Mainichi Shimbun’s online ranking, US News and World Report, and Shanghai Jiaotong University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities. Then he analyzed the reasons why global ranking was popular around the world from the perspective of human capital theory and intellectual building theory. The lecture concluded with the Prof. LI’s analysis of the pros and cons of the rankings as well as its significance.

At the end of the lecture, Professor LI had discussions and exchanges with all the attendees.