Hong Kong PolyU outlines plans for medical school, hospital and hotel in new Northern Metropolis

University chief says 2.5 million population of new development will need a hospital, highlights PolyU’s strengths in healthcare and artificial intelligence

Proposed hotel would be similar to existing one in Hung Hom and be used for teaching and research, but have conference and exhibition space

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PolyU’s crest on display at its Hung Hom campus. The university has outlined proposals for a medical school, hospital and hotel in the Northern Metropolis. Photo: Jelly Tse

Published: 10:17pm, 1 Mar 2024Updated: 11:27pm, 1 Mar 2024

Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University has told the government it wants to launch a medical school and hospital in a new academic town near the border with mainland China to cater for the 2.5 million residents expected to live in the area.

The university said on Friday that it also wanted to create a large-scale hotel with major conference and exhibition facilities in the Northern Metropolis, to be used to teach hospitality students, and move its research base to the area’s academic town.

PolyU would combine its strength in allied health and engineering to develop a technology-oriented medical school, the Hung Hom-based university said.

“We have a natural advantage in developing a medical school, as we have [academic] programmes including nursing, physiotherapy, optometry and medical laboratory science – everything but a medical school,” PolyU president Teng Jin-guang said.

PolyU president Teng Jin-guang says the university is ideally placed to operate a new medical school. Photo: Handout

The proposal came about a week after Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) announced it hoped to open the city’s third medical school by the middle of 2027, with students who had already obtained a first degree in various disciplines being targeted for enrolment.