The name of the game

The University of Hong Kong's decision to name its medical faculty after tycoon Li Ka-shing has aroused strong emotions among some of its graduates. The decision followed a $1 billion, no-strings-attached, donation by Mr Li to help fund the university's emerging role as a key player in China's economic growth and global dealings. The university has since decided to use the bulk of the donation to fund medical research.

Opponents to the naming said that if the faculty had to be named, it should have been after its most distinguished graduate, Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Chinese republic.

But HKU has already remembered Sun in many ways. For example, in 2003, 80 years after he made a famous speech in which he said that Hong Kong and HKU were 'the birthplace of my knowledge', the university organised celebrations to mark his heritage. A statute of Sun was unveiled and a series of distinguished lectures were held.

In fact, like many places all over the world, Hong Kong has a long tradition of naming schools, community facilities, and the like, after donors. That is why many people cannot understand what all the fuss is about this time.

It is also interesting to note that a month before he made his sizeable donation, Mr Li also gave $60 million to Chinese University to set up the Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences. That caused barely a ripple.

Historically, universities in Hong Kong mainly rely on government subventions to cover both their capital and recurrent costs. Private donations have mostly been used to fund the construction of buildings or to purchase equipment.

But there is a growing realisation that, as knowledge creation is a long-term process, what the universities need most is a sustained flow of money to fund lasting programmes. That explains the move towards encouraging philanthropists to put money into endowment funds.

In fact, Hong Kong people should feel thankful for the contributions of many local philanthropists. To name but a few, tycoon Noel Croucher bequeathed almost his entire life savings to the Croucher Foundation. Today, the foundation annually distributes tens of millions of dollars in research and scholarship grants, dwarfing similar handouts by the government.

Film magnate Sir Run Run Shaw has set up The Shaw Prize, giving annual awards of US$1 million each to honour those who have made distinguished achievements in the fields of astronomy, life science and medicine, and mathematical sciences.

Cynics may doubt the motives of philanthropists, but what matters more is that they are motivated to contribute to the advancement of knowledge. It is only proper that donors be suitably honoured for their contributions.

As many institutions have already run out of buildings to name, they are naming faculties, programmes and professorships after donors. Overseas, it is not uncommon for some institutions to bear multiple names, after donors who contributed at different times.

Of course, it is important for the universities to demonstrate through their actions that naming is merely a means of honouring donors and that their autonomy will not be compromised in any way.

Hopefully, the HKU row will not deter other tycoons from donating to local universities as a means of repaying the community that has afforded them the opportunity to realise their ambitions. The challenge is for those who want to make Hong Kong, and the world at large, a better place through scholarship to present our philanthropists with good proposals worthy of their sustained support.

C. K. Lau is the Post's executive editor, policy