With critics already alleging that any 18-year-old who can hold a pen can get into higher education, it may seem a strange time for Hong Kong to be contemplating more universities.
Yet in a review of the education system published in September, this is exactly what the Education Commission suggested.
And to make it more controversial still, it is suggesting that new universities can be private, unlike the government-controlled and funded universities of today.
Tomorrow is the end of the second round of public consultation. 'To be honest I think the golden era for establishing private universities is past,' says Mervyn Cheung Man-ping, secretary of the Hong Kong Association for Continuing Education. 'There used to be merely two public universities in Hong Kong and only two per cent of the relevant age group were given degree places.
'But in the 1990s the polytechnics were upgraded and liberal arts colleges similar to Shue Yan also became universities. The demand for places through private establishments has definitely decreased.' Nevertheless he and many other educationalists see some benefit in opening the door to a new type of university which may be cheaper, more responsive, or offer courses when other universities have their doors closed or even courses via the Internet.
The debate is in part triggered by Learning For Life, a review by the Education Commission of the overall education system in the SAR. In its paper the commission states clearly its goal of introducing more flexibility and diversity into the higher-education sector. In particular, the commission has included the development of 'various types of private universities' as one of the issues under consideration.