No names, please - Henry Fok gives university $800m

Tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung yesterday gave $800 million to the University of Science and Technology - and said the 'best reward' would be its achievements in education and research.

Mr Fok, 82, and HKUST president Paul Chu Ching-wu stressed no consideration had been given to naming a faculty or building after the billionaire developer in gratitude for the gift from his Fok Ying Tung Foundation.

There were no strings attached, Professor Chu said. However, the university will spend $500 million of the money on an education and research institute on Nansha Island, in Panyu, Guangdong, where Mr Fok's non-profit foundation has invested $2.5 billion since 1991 to create a commercial and recreational centre and IT park.

Mr Fok, who is a vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said he had never given a thought to getting a faculty or a building at the university named after him since he began making donations to the university in 1998.

The University of Hong Kong's decision in May to rename its faculty of medicine after tycoon Li Ka-shing in gratitude for a $1 billion donation stirred a huge row among former medical students.

Professor Chu said he did not rule out a faculty or university building being named after Mr Fok.

'Everything is possible at this moment. We have to talk with the faculty members, council members and the students,' Professor Chu said.