Professor Cheung, 54, of the department of public and social administration at City University, will meet institute staff and students tomorrow. The institute's council will discuss the appointment next Thursday.

Professor Cheung would not comment on the recommendation. He is not an education specialist and has no experience as a senior administrator in university-level institutions.

The institute's search committee was formed in April after the ruling council decided not to reappoint Professor Morris. The headhunter recruited by the committee identified about 400 candidates, including Professor Cheung, and narrowed the list down after interviews.

Sources close to the government said the new HKIEd president must be able to work with the authorities.

'Professor Cheung's network in the community and experience in public administration would help the college's future a lot,' said one source. 'There is no secret agenda behind this appointment.'

Civic Party leader Audrey Eu Yuet-mee said Professor Cheung should quit Exco if given the post.

She said it was hilarious that an executive councillor had been named the frontrunner for the job in the same week the government sought a judicial review of the inquiry's findings. The panel ruled the government had interfered with the academic freedom of institute staff.

'It is one thing to say that a senior government official can call up someone's boss and complain about what they have been writing and say this is not interference with academic freedom,' she said, referring to the commission finding which is the subject of the government's application for judicial review. 'Now they have gone one step further and exchanged the boss for an executive councillor.'

Victor Au Kin-ho, vice-president of the HKIEd students' union, said appointing Professor Cheung, a co-founder of the Democratic Party but no longer a member, would be 'a bit of a gamble'. He said: 'Is he on the side of the institute or the government? We don't know if he is a spy.'