The man chosen to lead Hong Kong's top performing arts academy impressed the selection panel with his experiences in restructuring educational institutions, the South China Morning Post has learnt.
But Academy of Performing Arts (APA) council members outside the five-member panel knew little of how Adrian Walter was selected, sources close to the academy said.
The recruitment process has come under scrutiny after it emerged that Walter was embroiled in controversy relating to a restructuring of the music school at Australian National University, of which he was head. He resigned from his post as head of the music school on Monday, but reports have emerged that he was 'instructed' to take leave, starting on Thursday last week, after coming under fire from colleagues for his handling of a restructuring of the school.
It is understood the panel members were council chairman William Leung Wing-cheung; deputy chairman Fredric Mao Chun-fai; treasurer Charles Chow Chan-lum; deputy secretary for home affairs Avia Lai Wong Shuk-han; and Open University president John Leong Chi-yan.
Mao, a veteran theatre director, said the recruitment process was done properly. 'We were looking not just at a candidate's artistic merits but also his experience and knowledge [of education] as well as his leadership,' Mao said. 'And Walter demonstrated his leadership and management sense.'
Mao said Walter was the panel's unanimous first choice.