Exclusive | HKU head defends plans for mandatory student visits to mainland China amid retraction

The University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) vice chancellor has broken his silence on a controversial plan to make mainland China learning programmes compulsory for its students, insisting this would help them build up a “truly global perspective”.

In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, Professor Peter Mathieson, also the university’s president, admitted for the first time that the proposal had been submitted to the University Grants Committee (UGC), but emphasised that the plan was not a requirement imposed by the body which controls government funds.

HKU drew ire from its student body after it announced the idea for students to go on compulsory immersion programmes – one in mainland China and one overseas – by 2022. Pro-vice-chancellor Professor Ian Holliday reportedly told students at a closed-door dinner last week: “If you don’t want to go to mainland China, don’t come to HKU.”

But at a meeting with the student's union on Monday afternoon Holliday formally retracted the controversial statement he made on Friday.

"This formulation was clumsy and misleading and I now formally retract this statement. My intention of making it was to say something much more positive," Holliday said. 

Critics have speculated that the controversial move could be a result of pressure from the UGC – a claim Mathieson denied.