The Institute began to establish its strength in course design and media production as soon as the first batch of courses was launched. Teams of course authors, editors, instructional designers, audiovisual specialists, and technology experts worked hand in hand to develop original academic programmes which suited the Hong Kong context. Priority was given to the introduction of Chinese-medium courses, as well as programmes leading to local professional certification; and, before long, postgraduate programmes at master’s and doctoral levels were made available.

While creating and refining its academic courses, a Research and Development Fund was established in 1993 to encourage staff to pursue academic research as a way to stay current and inform the quality of their course offerings.

積蓄能量，邁向卓越樞紐

學院瞭解，不能長期依賴他校來成為具有實力的學府，必須掌握自行發展遙距開放教育的專長。學院於是一方面開始邀請本地學者與校內人員合作撰寫課程內容，另一方面全力強化和壯大校內的編輯、設計、教育科技、影音製作和出版團隊。

學院確立了成人和遙距教育專長的地位，隨即開始自行編寫和製作課程，逐步減少購入外地課程，走向自行發展，尤其針對與本地社會和文化特色相關的課程、以中文授課的課程，以及為部分專業學位而設的進階課程。自1995年起，學院進一步開辦碩士和博士本地深造課程。

學院領導深明作為高等學府，在傳道授業，陶鑄人群之餘，還須精研學術，創新探微。學院於1993年自行從儲備中撥款成立學術研究與發展基金，支持和鼓勵校內同寅參與學術會議，並從事有關開放教育和本科學術的研究。

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