HKU faces dorm room shortage as hostel delayed
Just weeks before start of new academic year, university makes urgent appeal for staff to share their homes after delay in completion of hostel
The University of Hong Kong has made an urgent appeal to staff to share their homes with hundreds of non-local students who could be homeless due to a serious delay in completion of the university's new hostel.
The call, which went out this week, has prompted questions from staff and students about its likely effectiveness and why it was made only weeks before the start of the new academic year.
The residential college under construction in Western will accommodate 1,800 students and was expected to be ready this summer. But students have been told that the first two blocks will not be ready until the end of September and the remaining two in October or November.
Of the 1,800 rooms, first-year local students will occupy 350, non-local 750, postgraduates 600 and current undergraduates 100, Students Union president Dan Chan Koon-hong said yesterday.
Builder Chun Wo Development did not comment on the delay.
But in two consecutive e-mails sent to staff on Wednesday and yesterday Albert Chau, dean of student affairs, urged staff to offer "a spare room" in their homes to non-local students from late this month until October. "By offering or renting out your room, you will not only give the students a unique experience of HKU culture, you will help the students and university to tide over the hard time."