The University Grants Committee (UGC) has been urged to increase the transparency of its funding allocation by disclosing results of its evaluations of each institution's research output.
At the Legislative Council Public Accounts Committee meeting this week, legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing questioned the rationale behind the UGC's reluctance to publish the findings of its research assessments, last carried out in 1999.
About 75 per cent of the UGC funding for an institution is determined by teaching expenses and the remaining 25 per cent by research, including the number of active researchers.
'It seems that Hong Kong is so conservative. I don't know whether it's the UGC or the institutions which are so wary of more transparency. As with everywhere else, the release of the findings are bound to result in controversies. Why overprotect the tertiary sector?' Ms Lau said.
Committee chairman Eric Li Ka-cheung said it was unacceptable to see that countries such as the UK and Australia could make university research assessment public but not Hong Kong.
Many tertiary institutes also said it was necessary to disclose funding methodology to enhance their budget planning and allow them to make suggestions on how it could be improved, according to the audit report.
Chan Che-wai, vice-chairman of Hong Kong Federation of Higher Education Staff Associations, said that universities had to be told of the strength and weaknesses of their work in order to improve. Otherwise, the assessment would be meaningless, he said.
