The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is behaving like a private club.
The latest dispute between the university and the Government over the pay of the HKUST's vice-chancellor, Professor Woo Chia-wei, indicates that the university council believes that government policy for tertiary institutions is not applicable to it.
At issue is the council's decision to renew Professor Woo's contract for five years at pay exceeding that approved by the Legislative Council Finance Committee in 1996.
The policy on pay was fixed following debates by legislators who concluded that the salary for university heads, fixed at 98 per cent of that of the Chief Secretary, was not commensurate with the responsibilities and workload that went with the job. They decided the pay be cut to the level of policy secretaries, presently $170,000 a month, after taking into account the remuneration packages of civil servants and heads of leading universities overseas.
The decision stipulates the revised pay scale would not apply to existing heads, but that universities would have to follow the new regulations when renewing contracts.
Notwithstanding the requirement, the university's council decided that Professor Woo should be exempt so that he would not suffer a salary cut in his new term. Officials stood by the policy and refused to grant an exemption. The university's council chairman, Chung Sze-yuen, reportedly raised the issue with Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.
But that was not the end of the story. Last week, it was revealed that the council had given up negotiating with officials. Instead, it was considering using private donations to the university to fund the extra $30,000 a month for Professor Woo. With such an arrangement, officials conceded that the Government could not intervene.