Despite a sit-in protest by Open University students, pro-Beijing scholar Wong Yuk-shan was appointed to be the fifth president on Thursday morning.
The university council chairman made the announcement during a meeting where six students staged a demonstration to protest against what they called an opaque selection process in which they had little say.
“We wanted the council to delay the announcement and hold more consultation meetings,” said Prudence Chan Pui-wing, one of the student protesters. “We have been consulted only once last week.”
Chan said the council did not tell students the name of the final candidate in a June 6 e-mail informing them about a consultation meeting on June 13. It revealed Wong’s identity only at the meeting.
“We didn’t have time to do research before the consultation period and Professor Wong didn’t appear to know our university,” she said.
Angela Lau, a student who did not participate in the protest, said she did not know about the consultation and had no idea who the new president was.
The council said Wong, vice-president of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and a deputy on the National People’s Congress, was selected from more than 50 candidates in a process that started in March last year.