Hire academics based on qualifications, not birthplace, says president of Hong Kong university
- Wei Shyy points to his own background as a Taiwan native who left the self-ruled island 40 years ago, saying country of birth should not become a label
- His comments follow controversial appointment of two mainland Chinese academics to senior roles at city’s top university
Knowledge and leadership skills were among the main criteria in deciding whether to recruit teachers, said the president of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Professor Wei Shyy, on Thursday. The veteran aerospace engineer was born in Taiwan but is a United States national.
“Everybody has one’s own background, we cannot control where we grew up, that’s past history,” Shyy said. “We should [instead] look at what one [would] say [and] what one would do.”
The University of Hong Kong confirmed the appointments of Max Shen Zuojun and Gong Peng to senior management roles on Tuesday. Both are professors at the University of California, Berkeley and hold positions at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Some students, staff and alumni objected to giving mainland academics vice-presidential roles amid wider fears over the central government’s increasing influence in Hong Kong and a crackdown on dissent.
Shen was listed as a Communist Party member on Tsinghua’s website, but the reference was later removed. He has denied being a party member, saying he was mistakenly listed as one on the website, while university management was also satisfied with his clarification. The Post understands he told the HKU council that approved his appointment he was now a US citizen.