Hong Kong Chinese University president to step down in mid-2018
Joseph Sung says university council will start search for successor in a few months
Professor Joseph Sung Jao-yiu confirmed he would step down as head of Chinese University in mid-2018, raising the curtain on a selection process scheduled to start in a few months’ time.
The development could add more uncertainty to a politically volatile election year, observers say, as Hong Kong’s higher education institutions have seen the appointment of a number of controversial managers with a pro-government stance in recent years.
In a press release issued on Friday, Sung said the council had agreed to start hunting for the next vice-chancellor “in the middle of this year”.
“If the new vice-chancellor starts before my term comes to an end, I will leave my post earlier,” Sung said.
His announcement comes a day after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying appointed new council member Norman Leung Nai-pang to lead the university’s governing body.
Sung said he was “very glad” to have Leung appointed, citing his extensive network and passion for higher education.
Critics have called Leung a “fan” of the chief executive, a claim dismissed by the new council chairman whose term starts on Sunday.
Education sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen said Norman Leung would now play a central role in selecting the new vice-chancellor.
“All eyes will be on whether he can act objectively and ignore government interference in finding the best talent to lead the university, especially in today’s [tense] environment,” Ip said.
Sung is best known as the leading doctor during Hong Kong’s fight against the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus in 2003.
The outgoing vice-chancellor is overwhelmingly popular among students, who fondly call him “Jao-yiu BB [baby]” on Facebook.
“Sung has the spine to resist Leung Chun-ying although he belongs to the pro-establishment camp,” said Tommy Cheung Sau-yin, former president of Chinese University’s student union.
Cheung expressed concern that his successor would find himself or herself in a much worse situation by the time Sung steps down.
Sung, meanwhile, made an interesting comment in his press release: that he would not become a politician in future.
“I hope to spend some time overseas giving lectures ... after stepping down as vice-chancellor, followed by plans for research and treatment, especially on cancer,” Sung said. “I would like to emphasise once again I have absolutely no interest in politics.”
Sung was appointed to the university’s top post in 2010, to succeed the comparatively unpopular Professor Lawrence Lau Juen-yee. When Sung’s first five-year term expired, he agreed to take on only another three years.
