PolyU staff to be consulted on pay restructuring
Government's budget cuts have university chiefs exploring options, including salaries and donations
Polytechnic University will consult staff next month on a new remuneration package as a way to cope with the government's substantial budget cut for higher education, its leader says.
President Poon Chung-kwong said the package would contain new salary structures for new recruits, which would be delinked from the existing civil service pay scale, and possibly pay cuts for existing staff of up to 20 per cent. 'But we must consult staff on whatever plans we have,'' he said.
The new package is expected to be put before the university's council in February.
The budget for universities is set to be cut by 10 per cent next year. Echoing the views of other university chiefs, Professor Poon said the next few years would be the toughest time ever.
'Most worrying is that we do not know how much more funding will be slashed in 2005-2008. The years ahead will be very difficult because of the funding cut and the limited pool of donors here. You cannot expect the same donor to donate again the following year.''
The university's senior management has pledged $1 million as matching money for staff donations.
Professor Poon, who was revealed by the media this year to be receiving a $177,000 monthly allowance on top of his salary of $181,700, has pledged $350,000, while his deputies and faculty deans will provide the rest of the $1 million.
The money will be used to match the target of $2 million to be raised among staff before the end of the year.
PolyU is hoping to rake in another $3 million of matching money from the University Grants Committee.
But Professor Poon maintained the UGC's $1 billion matching fund scheme set up in the summer to bolster the financial situation of universities would not be of much help.
'No matter how hard we try, our donations can never compensate the hundreds of millions of dollars the government is taking away from each of us,'' he said.
'With the substantial cut, it is self-deceiving to think that universities will be able to maintain the same quality of teaching and research,'' he added.
The key providers of government-funded sub-degree programmes, PolyU and City University, will suffer a double financial blow due to the government's withdrawal of funding for those programmes next year.
Lingnan University president Edward Chen Kwan-yiu has voiced fears that the funding for 2005-2008 would only be half of that handed out in 1995-1998.
