President says university faces 28 per cent reduction in budget by 2006
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) - under increasing pressure from the government to merge with Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) - is bracing for a 28 per cent cut in its budget by 2006.
Speaking at a staff forum attended by about 200 this week, its president, Professor Paul Chu Ching-wu, revealed that an additional 10 per cent cut in government funding was likely in 2005-2007 on top of next year's 10 per cent reduction.
The situation will be exacerbated by civil service wage cuts and the government's withdrawal of support for taught postgraduate programmes, which will mean a loss of $125 million between 2004 and 2006 - equivalent to six per cent of its annual budget.
'We are a new institution and don't have much flexibility to cope with the cuts,'' Professor Chu said.
Salary cuts was one possible way to cope, he said, but he added he preferred cutting them selectively as it would be 'demoralising to productive staff' if they were cut across the board. There was also the possibility of staff cuts.