Honour for education chief comes under fire
Staff and students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) are protesting over a plan to award an honorary doctorate to the education chief next month.
Arthur Li Kwok-cheung was the university's vice-chancellor before taking up his ministerial post last year.
Shum Kar-ping, chairman of the Federation of Higher Education Staff Associations and a mathematics professor at the university, said Professor Li should not be honoured at a time when the higher-education sector was facing major budget cuts.
'Universities that experience heavier funding cuts than CUHK might think CUHK had curried favour with Professor Li. I would not accept the honour if I were him either, to avoid being seen to be too close to the university.'
Associate professor in biochemistry Chan King-ming said many staff members were embarrassed by the university's decision.
They also think it is inappropriate to honour Professor Li when he is technically on leave from the university's medical school, where he served twice as dean of medicine.
Wayne Tsang Wai-hang, president of the university's student union, said it would be better for Professor Li's public image if he turned down the honour. 'He should give people the impression of being impartial.'
But a university spokesman said it was the institution's tradition to confer honorary doctorates on its former vice-chancellors.
And Professor of surgery Antony Yim Ping-chuen said few people would challenge Professor Li's contribution to the university. 'There is no good timing for honouring him. People can always politicise the thing as long as they want to.'
