Poorly performing Hong Kong colleges face threat of deregistration

Strengthening the regulatory framework and setting clearer criteria to deregister poorly performing self-financing postsecondary colleges in Hong Kong will be among the priorities of the advisory committee that oversees the sector, its chairman said.

Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, who was last week reappointed to head the recently reformed Committee on Self-financing Postsecondary Education, revealed the plan in an interview with the Post.

The proposed move was among 13 recommendations the government adopted from a task force Cheung led that was set up to review those institutions, and to address problems within the sector.

There are 28 self-financing postsecondary institutions in Hong Kong, which can award degrees, associate degrees, and higher diplomas, providing more than 30,000 intake places a year. There are also six publicly funded universities that run one or more private extensions.

The revamped committee, which was first set up in 2012, will see an increase of seven to 21 members including two overseas experts for the first time – both of whom are incumbent or ex-members of the University Grants Committee. It will meet for the first time next month.