Hong Kong Chinese University president to step down in mid-2018
Joseph Sung says university council will start search for successor in a few months
Professor Joseph Sung Jao-yiu confirmed he would step down as head of Chinese University in mid-2018, raising the curtain on a selection process scheduled to start in a few months’ time.
The development could add more uncertainty to a politically volatile election year, observers say, as Hong Kong’s higher education institutions have seen the appointment of a number of controversial managers with a pro-government stance in recent years.
In a press release issued on Friday, Sung said the council had agreed to start hunting for the next vice-chancellor “in the middle of this year”.
“If the new vice-chancellor starts before my term comes to an end, I will leave my post earlier,” Sung said.
His announcement comes a day after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying appointed new council member Norman Leung Nai-pang to lead the university’s governing body.