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Professor Edward Chen (left), Centennial’s council chairman-designate, and HKU SPACE board director Professor William Lee at the HKU campus in Pok Fu Lam. Photo: Dickson Lee

Loss-making Hong Kong college rebrands as a liberal arts school after management shake-up

Centennial College aims to improve student intake by playing on its links to the prestigious University of Hong Kong

A self-financing college founded by the University of Hong Kong that has racked up huge losses is rebranding itself as a liberal arts school after two top managers left in a shake-up.

Centennial College in Pok Fu Lam recorded a deficit of around HK$13.3 million in 2014-15 as new student enrolments slumped to 75 from 231 in 2012.

The college – which was founded by HKU in 2012 and offers self-financing full-time bachelor’s degree programmes – charges HK$376,000 for a four-year programme, one of the most expensive in town.

On Wednesday, HKU announced a management reform plan for Centennial, which has been operating independently with its own governance body.

The university said Centennial’s president, Professor John Malpas, would step down but remain a senior adviser to the college’s board of governors. Council chairman Linus Cheung Wing-lam would remain a board member after his resignation took effect on July 1.

Centennial’s council chairman-designate, Professor Edward Chen Kwan-yiu, said on Thursday that the college had faced difficulties in enrolment because of a falling number of secondary school pupils caused by the city’s low birth rate.

The rebranding will state our relationship with HKU more clearly,” said Chen. “This will better attract students
Professor Edward Chen Kwan-yiu

He said the school, which now had about 600 students, would hand all its financial management to HKU’s School of Professional and Continuing Education (SPACE) while maintaining its independent operation and issuing its own diploma.

SPACE would also cover Centennial’s financial losses. The college would pay back the money when it achieved a balanced account, expected in three or four years, Chen said.

To attract more students, Chen said it would become a liberal arts college within HKU and attach the line, “an independent college established by the University of Hong Kong”, to its name.

“The rebranding will state our relationship with HKU more clearly,” said Chen. “This will better attract students.”

He said the college, which now only had bachelor of arts programmes, planned to open new social sciences programmes. It would study closing some less popular programmes such as accountancy, he said, but current students would not be affected.

Chen also urged the government to hasten discussions with mainland authorities on allowing the city’s self-financing institutions to recruit mainland students.

The college rents its current site from SPACE, but the Education Bureau, which granted SPACE the site to provide more higher diploma places, has demanded the college return it to SPACE by 2018.

Chen said the college would have closer connections with SPACE after the management reform, which would help it negotiate with the bureau to keep the site. If that failed, the college would apply for a vacant campus.

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