Shenzhen campus to dwarf HKU

The new Shenzhen campus of the University of Hong Kong will be nearly twice the size of its main site in Pok Fu Lam, university chiefs have indicated.

The Shenzhen government has provided a 100-hectare piece of land for the campus, which is due to be built within five years under HKU's strategic development plan, vice-chancellor Professor Tsui Lap-chee said at the university's spring media reception yesterday.

'The HKU campus is only 52 hectares, so it's [Shenzhen site] a really big piece of land,' he said. 'The Shenzhen authorities estimate it is going to cost something like 2.7 billion yuan [HK$3.06 billion] to build a campus of that size.' Professor Tsui stressed that the figure was based on a generic campus costing.

Planning of the HKU extension had not yet begun so the actual estimate for the project was not yet available.

'We hope that the Shenzhen government will be able to help us in funding the building of this campus and, of course, in future we hope that they will be able to fund not just the building but also the research and academic development,' he said.

The university would recruit academic staff for the new campus from the mainland and successful candidates would have to be up to HKU standards in terms of qualifications and international exposure.