https://www.scmp.com/rss/320128/feed Conflicts arose on the University of Hong Kong's governing council in 2015 as pro-democracy Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun was being considered to be pro-vice-chancellor of the institution. His candidacy eventually failed, eliciting criticism that pro-establishment forces had opposed him on political grounds. Tensions flared again when months later Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung, a close ally of Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, was named chairman of the council. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com The head of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has openly fought back for the first time after being kept in the dark about an earlier surprise reshuffle of his senior management team by the chairwoman of the institution’s governing council. In a Wednesday email seen by the Post addressing colleagues, students and alumni, president Xiang Zhang said the council’s move “disregarded the fundamentals of good governance”. “These actions have severely undermined the century-old academic autonomy upon... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/3265530/university-hong-kong-head-fights-back-after-being-kept-dark-about-surprise-reshuffle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/3265530/university-hong-kong-head-fights-back-after-being-kept-dark-about-surprise-reshuffle?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Jun 2024 14:18:37 +0000 Sacking an employee in the wake of a criminal conviction may not necessarily seem unreasonable from the perspective of management. But the decision by the University of Hong Kong’s council to dismiss associate professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting, who was sentenced to 16 months in prison last April for two public nuisance offences in relation to the 2014 Occupy protests opposed by Beijing, has deepened concerns among academia in our polarised environment. The move by the university’s governing body is... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3095245/university-challenge-hku-must-work-restore-its-reputation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3095245/university-challenge-hku-must-work-restore-its-reputation?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Jul 2020 16:20:19 +0000 The embattled No 2 at Hong Kong’s oldest university will step down from the role in April, with a vocal critic of the 2014 Occupy pro-democracy protests likely to take up the position, the South China Morning Post has learned. The sudden change in senior management at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) follows the shocking resignation of a vice-president less than a month ago and has raised concerns over the institution’s operations and autonomy. A source told the Post on Thursday the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2183552/controversial-no-2-hong-kong-university-paul-tam-step-down?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2183552/controversial-no-2-hong-kong-university-paul-tam-step-down?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Jan 2019 17:38:03 +0000 Students and staff at Hong Kong’s oldest university started the new year with a joint appeal to the governing council to remove the chancellor’s powers to appoint members and select its chairman behind closed doors. The University of Hong Kong’s Student Union, Academic Staff Association, and Alumni Concern Group, said amending the university statutes would be the easiest way to introduce much-needed change in governance, forgoing the need for legislative amendments. This came as controversial... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2180299/university-hong-kong-students-and-staff-united-desire?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2180299/university-hong-kong-students-and-staff-united-desire?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Jan 2019 23:03:14 +0000 The chairman of the University of Hong Kong’s governing council will lead the body for another three years after a first term shaken by fierce protests and criticism from both students and staff. The government gazette on Friday said controversial government adviser Arthur Li Kwok-cheung had been reappointed along with a new council member, Jason Chiu Tsz-kiu, founder and CEO of mobile technology and e-commerce firm Cherrypicks. Other reappointments included Vivien Chan, a former chairwoman of... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2178036/arthur-li-lead-university-hong-kongs-governing-council?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2178036/arthur-li-lead-university-hong-kongs-governing-council?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Dec 2018 08:56:31 +0000 A controversial outgoing member of the University of Hong Kong’s governing council has said she holds “no hard feelings” towards student leaders and now meets them regularly, after three years of thorny ties. But Leonie Ki Man-fung described her second term on the university body as “very traumatic” because it was marked by contentious debate and clashes sparked by an appointment saga. Ki said she had since managed to thaw icy relations with former student union president Billy Fung Jing-en and... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2172659/no-hard-feelings-towards-student-leaders-over-past-rows?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2172659/no-hard-feelings-towards-student-leaders-over-past-rows?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Nov 2018 10:04:28 +0000 University of Hong Kong teaching staff mostly stayed away from voting for their three representatives to the university’s governing council. The number of votes in Wednesday’s election was just over a third of the votes cast in the last race held in 2015, in the midst of controversy over the appointments of the university pro-vice chancellor and council chairman. From a field of five, those elected were two mainland scholars, finance professor Chen Zhiwu and engineering professor Quentin Yue... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2172357/low-turnout-hku-profs-pick-two-mainland-chinese-among-three?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2172357/low-turnout-hku-profs-pick-two-mainland-chinese-among-three?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Nov 2018 13:01:19 +0000 The uproar over the lack of progress by Hong Kong’s oldest university to properly recruit its No 2 management position has escalated with staff and student associations demanding the incumbent deputy explain his capacity in the leadership team. The Post reported last week that the search process for the provost and deputy vice chancellor role at the University of Hong Kong had been on hold for more than two years with sources saying the situation may not change soon. While a search was... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2171799/hku-staff-and-student-associations-demand-answers-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2171799/hku-staff-and-student-associations-demand-answers-over?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:46:55 +0000 The No 2 management post at Hong Kong‘s oldest university has been unfilled for three-and-a-half years, and this may not change soon, the Post has learned. The University of Hong Kong has been unable to find a new provost and deputy vice chancellor since mid-2015, after two rounds of unsuccessful searches in 2015 and July 2016, and the search process has been suspended since, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed. Two of the four candidates dropped out in the first round in... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2170967/no-2-spot-university-hong-kong-unfilled-more-three-years-no?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2170967/no-2-spot-university-hong-kong-unfilled-more-three-years-no?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Oct 2018 02:40:29 +0000 A staff union at Hong Kong’s oldest university has expressed fears over limits to academic freedom and teachers’ voices, after five final nominees in the institution’s governing council election were revealed. The list of candidates from the University of Hong Kong was put up on Friday, and includes Professor Quentin Yue Zhong-qi, who has shown outright support for the council’s divisive chairman Arthur Li Kwok-cheung. A moderate representative had earlier told the Post he would not be seeking... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2170518/hku-academic-autonomy-and-free-speech-could-be-compromised?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2170518/hku-academic-autonomy-and-free-speech-could-be-compromised?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Oct 2018 06:01:08 +0000 A liberal academic who initiated the 2015 silent protest in defence of the University of Hong Kong’s institutional autonomy is leaving the school he has served for 17 years. While Professor Timothy O’Leary, formerly the head of school of humanities at HKU, said he had never faced any pressure from management over his actions, he called on Hongkongers to constantly speak up for the values they treasure, ones he believes will only face greater challenges as the city’s integration into China... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2154493/professor-behind-silent-protest-hong-kong-university-leaves?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2154493/professor-behind-silent-protest-hong-kong-university-leaves?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Jul 2018 23:01:13 +0000 Three years after Johannes Chan Man-mun was snubbed for a top job at the University of Hong Kong, the legal scholar shook hands with the man who opposed his appointment. At a law school event last month, he broke the ice with HKU council chairman Arthur Li Kwok-cheung. They engaged in what Chan called “courtesy calls”. Leading law scholar’s plan to keep Beijing at bay from local courts In 2015, Li openly objected to Chan’s appointment as pro-vice-chancellor at the city’s oldest university. Li... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2154299/hku-legal-scholar-johannes-chan-lets-go-controversy-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2154299/hku-legal-scholar-johannes-chan-lets-go-controversy-and?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Jul 2018 00:00:33 +0000 The High Court has thrown out two judicial reviews challenging the controversial decision by the University of Hong Kong’s ruling council not to appoint liberal scholar Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun as pro-vice-chancellor two years ago. Mr Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung on Friday refused the applications lodged by then student union leaders Billy Fung Jing-en and Colman Li Fung-kei in December 2015 “for the reason that the intended judicial reviews have become academic” and would serve no... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2141680/judicial-reviews-university-hong-kong-case-thrown-out?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2141680/judicial-reviews-university-hong-kong-case-thrown-out?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Apr 2018 12:14:49 +0000 In his simple, uninviting office overlooking Sai Ying Pun’s old buildings and Victoria Harbour, Peter Mathieson turned his back on the sweeping panoramic view, insisting on a particular sofa seat that faced inward. “I always sit here. I feel comfortable only by sitting here,” the outgoing University of Hong Kong’s vice chancellor said, unmoved by a photographer’s seating advice. More discomfiting for Mathieson, due to step down this month, were the challenges he faced when dealing with student... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2127163/turbulent-tenure-hku-vice-chancellor-reflects-his-time-helm?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2127163/turbulent-tenure-hku-vice-chancellor-reflects-his-time-helm?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Jan 2018 02:03:02 +0000 Any topic should be up for discussion on university campuses, and that includes Hong Kong independence, a Harvard University professor specialising in China studies says. But Professor William Kirby, who acted as an adviser to the University of Hong Kong on governance issues earlier this year, added that it would be more productive to talk about how Hong Kong could maintain its autonomy within the “one country, two systems” framework, since the city separating from China was extremely... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2121689/hong-kong-independence-debate-should-be-fair-game-campus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2121689/hong-kong-independence-debate-should-be-fair-game-campus?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Nov 2017 23:01:13 +0000 Prosecutors have decided not to seek a review of the community service sentences handed to two former student leaders for their roles in a chaotic siege of a University of Hong Kong council meeting last year. The decision stood in contrast with recent rulings against 16 young protesters, including three student leaders, who saw their community service sentences replaced by prison terms. Replying to media queries, a spokesman for the Department of Justice said it would not ask for a review of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2113309/prosecutors-wont-seek-harsher-sentences-ex-student-leaders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2113309/prosecutors-wont-seek-harsher-sentences-ex-student-leaders?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Sep 2017 01:54:14 +0000 Veteran English professor Douglas Kerr never really felt comfortable working in a colony, so when British rule ended in Hong Kong he felt a sense of relief. “It was a bit of an embarrassment for people like me to be looked at as beneficiaries of an unfair colonial system,” he told City Weekend last month, on the day he left for London after 38 years in Hong Kong. “So for me personally, it was very nice to no longer work in a colony, or to teach a colonial language.” For Kerr, who was head of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2112395/colonial-privilege-academic-freedom-and-chicken?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2112395/colonial-privilege-academic-freedom-and-chicken?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Sep 2017 09:02:19 +0000 The lenient sentencing of two former University of Hong Kong student leaders has brought to a satisfactory end a highly divisive case for all sides concerned. But it does raise an interesting point about the opposition and its double standard. Billy Fung Jing-en and Colman Li Fung-kei showed remorse and acknowledged wrongdoing for helping to lay siege to a university council meeting. Officials, including some council members who were targeted in the rowdy protest, pleaded for leniency for the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2112497/revealed-double-standard-hong-kongs-political-stone-throwers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2112497/revealed-double-standard-hong-kongs-political-stone-throwers?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Sep 2017 19:11:48 +0000 Hong Kong’s last colonial governor Chris Patten wrapped up his four-day visit to the city on Thursday by telling Hongkongers not to give up on their pursuit of democracy and asking Beijing in turn to “trust Hong Kong”. Speaking at a hall packed with hundreds of people at the University of Hong Kong, Patten said that he could understand the frustration Hong Kong people faced on the city’s road to democracy after Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997. “What really happened since 1997 is –... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2112312/dont-give-pursuit-democracy-former-governor-chris-patten?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2112312/dont-give-pursuit-democracy-former-governor-chris-patten?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Sep 2017 01:00:00 +0000 Hundreds of mitigation letters were presented to a court on Thursday in support of two former University of Hong Kong student leaders who avoided jail for their roles in a chaotic siege of a council meeting last year, including one from a woman hurt in the fracas. The letters, from council members, staff, alumni and current students, were a rare show of unity after years of division that plagued the school’s governing council. They urged West Kowloon Court magistrate Ko Wai-hung, who is also an... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2112256/victim-among-hundreds-support-former-hku-students-billy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2112256/victim-among-hundreds-support-former-hku-students-billy?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Sep 2017 09:44:50 +0000 Two former student leaders were spared jail on Thursday after admitting they had been wrong and apologising for the chaotic siege of a University of Hong Kong governing council meeting last year. Former student union president Billy Fung Jing-en, 23, was sentenced to 240 hours of community service on three charges – disorderly conduct in a public place, criminal damage and attempted forcible entry. His then vice-president, Colman Li Fung-kei, 22, received 200 hours for one summons of obstructing... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2112121/former-student-leaders-handed-community-service-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2112121/former-student-leaders-handed-community-service-over?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Sep 2017 08:45:30 +0000 The next president of Hong Kong’s oldest university should stand firm on academic freedom and intellectual independence, a departing professor has advised, amid growing tensions between the institution’s governing body and students. Douglas Kerr, who joined the University of Hong Kong in 1979, said that he had not seen a more serious divide between the two parties during his 38 years with the institute than in the past few years. The city’s premier higher learning institute has seen conflicts... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2109384/academic-freedom-must-be-top-priority-next?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2109384/academic-freedom-must-be-top-priority-next?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Sep 2017 12:30:52 +0000 Where young people lack experience, wrote Alexis de Tocqueville in The Old Regime and the French Revolution, they make up for with enthusiasm. In the past few years, we have witnessed plenty of “youthful enthusiasm” in Hong Kong. The Occupy protests are such an example. The Mong Kok riot is another, so is the advent of localist-inspired separatism. In all those instances, I would argue they have not advanced Hong Kong’s political development. If anything, it’s the opposite. While politically... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2103678/young-activists-pay-price-their-passion?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2103678/young-activists-pay-price-their-passion?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Jul 2017 17:08:11 +0000 Two former student leaders face imprisonment following their conviction on Thursday for their roles in a chaotic siege of a University of Hong Kong governing council meeting last year. Former student union president Billy Fung Jing-en, 23, was convicted after trial on one count of disorderly conduct in a public place, adding to the charges of criminal damage and attempted forcible entry to which he had already pleaded guilty. ‘We cannot condone mob rule’: University of Hong Kong vice-chancellor... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2103404/hong-kong-former-student-leaders-convicted-over-university?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2103404/hong-kong-former-student-leaders-convicted-over-university?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Jul 2017 05:15:00 +0000 The governing body of the University of Hong Kong has said it will not let students stand in the way if it has to review the disciplinary code addressing violence at protests on campus. The comment counters the suggestion of a panel of scholars which had recommended that full support from student representatives was required for initiating such reviews. The panel was tasked to assess the university’s governance structure. The HKU governing council’s working party released its report on the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2100566/student-support-not-needed-disciplinary-code?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2100566/student-support-not-needed-disciplinary-code?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Jun 2017 07:33:19 +0000 A recommendation to strip the city’s chief executive of the power to appoint University of Hong Kong council members – presented as the majority view by an independent review panel – has been rejected by its governing body. The university is instead considering a proposal by a working group made up of council members to have committees advise the chief executive on such matters, a plan critics claim will ultimately result in the city’s top official still having the final say. The chief... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2100309/university-hong-kong-refuses-strip-chief?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2100309/university-hong-kong-refuses-strip-chief?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Jun 2017 03:40:31 +0000 Hong Kong’s oldest university has failed to comply with gender equality guidelines in its search for its next vice-chancellor, according to some academics. The University of Hong Kong set up a search committee in April to seek a new head to replace outgoing vice-chancellor Peter Mathieson. The four members of the committee are all men. However, the institution’s latest policy guidelines on recruitment issued in October last year state: “To promote gender equality, at least 30 per cent of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2089268/university-hong-kong-slammed-not-getting-women?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2089268/university-hong-kong-slammed-not-getting-women?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Apr 2017 12:00:45 +0000 All universities need autonomy and freedom, the chief of a prestigious British institution has said, as debate continues over the governance of Hong Kong’s universities. Speaking to the Post during a recent trip to Hong Kong, Professor Louise Richardson, vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford, said the world’s best universities were those with the most autonomy. Citing her university as an example, Richardson said although Oxford is heavily regulated by the British government – which sets... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2084045/hong-kong-universities-need-autonomy-and-freedom?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2084045/hong-kong-universities-need-autonomy-and-freedom?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Apr 2017 07:30:15 +0000 It will be a year next month since the council of the University of Hong Kong set up an independent panel of three to review its governance, in particular the power of the chief executive to appoint the council chairman and some members. The panel was two months late delivering a conflicted report, and the council has kept it under wraps while a working group looks into the recommendations. There are concerns the council is dragging its feet. To be sure, transparency is important. But it is also... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2082960/make-public-review-governance-hku?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2082960/make-public-review-governance-hku?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Mar 2017 18:52:21 +0000 The University of Hong Kong’s outgoing vice-chancellor has defended the decision not to release a report reviewing the chief executive’s role in university affairs. While the long-awaited report has not been made public, sources say it recommends removing the chief executive’s role in appointing the chairman and some members of the institution’s governing council. The city’s leader is chancellor of all eight publicly funded universities – posts inherited from British colonial rule. Arthur Li has... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2078198/university-hong-kong-vice-chancellor-defends?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2078198/university-hong-kong-vice-chancellor-defends?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Mar 2017 08:30:15 +0000 The University of Hong Kong’s next vice-chancellor need not be a local who is familiar with the city’s stormy politics, says its council chairman Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung, whose combative governing style has intensified rows plaguing the institution. In an interview with the Post, Li also departed from his colleagues on the process for finding a replacement for Professor Peter Mathieson, accusing them of delaying the process by wanting to hold a poll to appoint a search... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2078107/arthur-li-has-open-mind-next-university-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2078107/arthur-li-has-open-mind-next-university-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Mar 2017 14:11:20 +0000 Should we end the colonial-era tradition of making the chief executive the chancellor of public universities, or at the very least, make it no more than an honorary title? A three-member panel was appointed by the University of Hong Kong to look into the matter. And the trio reportedly cannot agree. Two members – Professor Malcolm Grant, chancellor of the University of York, and Professor William Kirby, of Harvard University – endorse the idea that the chief executive’s role in the university... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2075958/chief-executives-university-role-not-interference-its?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2075958/chief-executives-university-role-not-interference-its?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Mar 2017 17:54:27 +0000 There was “no evidence ­whatsoever” of the city’s leader politically interfering with the governance of the University of Hong Kong, a former High Court judge wrote in a report to the ­institution’s ­council. A source familiar with the report said ­former High Court judge PeterNguyen was opposed to stripping the chief executiveof his power to appoint the head and some members of HKU’s governing council, as drastic changes would have a ripple effect on ­other universities. The chief executive is... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2075239/former-judge-finds-no-evidence-political?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2075239/former-judge-finds-no-evidence-political?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Mar 2017 01:32:34 +0000 Students, staff and alumni calling for more institutional autonomy for the University of Hong Kong have been dealt another blow after the school’s council held back on whether to adopt or reject, or even release, a long-awaited governance review report, and instead set up a working group to look into the recommendations. The report, which according to sources included suggestions to strip the chief executive of powers to appoint the council chairman and members, was expected to be completed by... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2074881/university-hong-kong-council-delays-making?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2074881/university-hong-kong-council-delays-making?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Mar 2017 00:00:15 +0000 The Independent Commission Against Corruption has declined to take up his case. The University of Hong Kong’s governing council has concluded there was nothing to investigate. So, what’s a freedom-loving and politically active law student to do? You guessed it – apply for a judicial review. Michael Mo Kwan-tai lost to mainland rival Zhu Ke in the election of a postgraduate student representative to the council last year. After his defeat, he alleged Zhu sent “electronic” red packets to student... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2066957/hku-grandstanding-taxpayers-expense?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2066957/hku-grandstanding-taxpayers-expense?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Jan 2017 17:30:45 +0000 The internet and politics bring out the worst in people. Consider the latest public spat at the University of Hong Kong between council chairman Arthur Li Kwok-cheung and William Cheung Sing-wai, head of the Academic Staff Association. A fine example these two academic leaders have offered their students in manners and etiquette! Or is it that they are taking after their own rebellious and insolent pupils? Either way, it does not reflect well on Hong Kong’s oldest and most prestigious... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2065864/lesson-bad-manners-university-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2065864/lesson-bad-manners-university-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Jan 2017 18:27:31 +0000 Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung’s behaviour indicated he was unafraid, calling into question if he had really heard cries to kill him as he left a university governing council meeting, the court heard on Wednesday. The Eastern Court also heard that the absence of an identification parade by police right after the confrontation might undermine the credibility of some witnesses. ‘Stupidity has no cure,’ Arthur Li says in email battle over late report Li, the chairman of the governing council at... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2065405/arthur-li-was-unafraid-so-claim-calls-kill-him-was-false-ex?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2065405/arthur-li-was-unafraid-so-claim-calls-kill-him-was-false-ex?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Jan 2017 10:14:40 +0000 The University of Hong Kong’s controversial governing council chairman Arthur Li Kwok-cheung has been embroiled in a bitter war of words with the institution’s staff representative, with Li lamenting that “stupidity has no cure”. In an email to the council head on Tuesday, William Cheung Sing-wai, chairman of the university’s Academic Staff Association, criticised Li for failing to provide a new strategic direction, which Li had promised to produce within six months after he took over in January... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2065359/stupidity-has-no-cure-hku-council-chair-arthur-li?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2065359/stupidity-has-no-cure-hku-council-chair-arthur-li?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Jan 2017 07:55:13 +0000 A member of the University of Hong Kong governing council yesterday told a court she felt like a hostage and feared she would be a victim of a stampede, when dozens of students and protesters prevented her from leaving a controversial meeting early this year. Leonie Ki Man-fung also said she felt like she “waited for years” to get on board an ambulance on the campus on January 26, even though she was suffering from dizziness and numb legs. The 69-year-old New World Development Company executive... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2056112/hku-governing-council-member-says-she-feared-she?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2056112/hku-governing-council-member-says-she-feared-she?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Dec 2016 13:29:27 +0000 Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung on Friday likened a student protest at the University of Hong Kong in January to a riot because there was an attack on his life with people pulling him, a court heard. The governing council chairman also testified that he looked down on former HKU student union president Billy Fung Jing-en, 22, who is on trial for criminally intimidating Li and its alternative charge of disorderly behaviour in a public place. “I don’t hate him,” Li told Eastern Court. “I look down... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2055172/siege-hku-governing-council-meeting-was-riot-chairman?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2055172/siege-hku-governing-council-meeting-was-riot-chairman?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Dec 2016 08:00:15 +0000 Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung testified on Thursday that he felt his life was threatened when he left a University of Hong Kong governing council meeting this January because protesters were pulling him in response to a student leader’s call to kill him. “I was very scared,” he told the Eastern Court six times. Li was testifying against Billy Fung Jing-en, 22, who pleaded not guilty to one count of criminal intimidation and its alternative charge of disorderly conduct in public place outside... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2054874/former-hku-student-leader-billy-fung-admits-he-damaged-door?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2054874/former-hku-student-leader-billy-fung-admits-he-damaged-door?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Dec 2016 08:00:45 +0000 The High Court should look into the University of Hong Kong’s governing council over its snubbing of a liberal legal scholar for a prominent post to ensure the academic autonomy enshrined in the Basic Law was being followed, a judicial review application has heard. Lawyers for former HKU student union president Billy Fung Jing-en and his then vice-president Coleman Li Fung-kei urged the Court of First Instance to give the go-ahead for a judicial challenge to the council’s decision to reject... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2052262/former-university-hong-kong-student-leaders-challenge?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2052262/former-university-hong-kong-student-leaders-challenge?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Dec 2016 12:03:03 +0000 Poor governance was to blame for a debacle which lasted more than a year over the appointment of a scholar to a key post at one of the city’s universities, the institution’s president said yesterday. Speaking yesterday at a forum on the city’s governance organised by the Project Citizens Foundation,University of Hong Kong president Peter Mathieson described the rejection of pro- ­democracy academic Johannes Chan Man-mun as “terrible” but insisted it was not a case of interference on academic... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2049480/university-hong-kong-president-says-poor-governance-blame?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2049480/university-hong-kong-president-says-poor-governance-blame?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Nov 2016 15:00:15 +0000 A magistrate on Wednesday lamented that the city’s prosecutors had ignored his orders when preparing the cases of two University of Hong Kong student leaders accused of obstructing a fireman and threatening HKU governing council chairman Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung, adding that this could amount to contempt of court. The prosecutors on Wednesday applied to Eastern Court to have both cases, involving former HKU student union leader Billy Fung Jing-en and his then external vice-president... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2021283/contempt-court-prosecution-slammed-disregarding-orders-hku?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2021283/contempt-court-prosecution-slammed-disregarding-orders-hku?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Sep 2016 06:45:00 +0000 A second former University of Hong Kong student union leader charged in connection with a siege on the university’s governing council meeting in January pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to obstructing a fireman. Coleman Li Fung-kei, 21, denied one summons charge of obstructing a public officer in performance of his public duty. Li, a former union vice-president, was accused of obstructing senior fire services ambulanceman Cheung Ka-fai outside the main entrance of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Building... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2004516/former-hku-student-leader-coleman-li-pleads-not-guilty?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2004516/former-hku-student-leader-coleman-li-pleads-not-guilty?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Aug 2016 04:44:38 +0000 Controversial new proposals to increase the powers and influence of faculty deans at the University of Hong Kong in the hiring of academics have been watered down, according to confidential documents seen by the Post. The latest revision strips the deans of their voting power in faculty hiring committees, which can recommend appointments directly to university chiefs. But critics said the changes don’t go far enough to check the power of deans or tackle cronyism, a problem identified as a reason... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2003773/university-hong-kong-waters-down-controversial-reform?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2003773/university-hong-kong-waters-down-controversial-reform?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Aug 2016 12:30:00 +0000 Another former leader of University of Hong Kong’s student union has been charged with obstruction for his alleged role in the siege of a university governing council meeting in January. Former HKUSU external vice-president Colman Li Fung-kei, 21, received a summons for obstructing public officers in execution of their duty on Tuesday morning when he went to Western Police Station with a lawyer. He will appear in Eastern Court on August 16. Former University of Hong Kong student leader charged... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2001718/second-former-hku-student-leader-charged-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2001718/second-former-hku-student-leader-charged-over?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Aug 2016 01:20:22 +0000 Academic staff will be “silenced” if proposed reforms in how professors are hired at the University of Hong Kong are pushed through, a teaching union has warned. The proposals, listed in a confidential document, would see top HKU management adopting a more decisive role in appointments, diluting the powers of ­faculties and staffing committees, the South China Morning Post ­exclusively revealed on Saturday. The thought of such power being placed in the hands of administrators has raised fears... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2000145/lecturers-fear-they-will-be-silenced-hku-proposals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2000145/lecturers-fear-they-will-be-silenced-hku-proposals?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Aug 2016 14:49:44 +0000 The University of Hong Kong is proposing drastic reforms in hiring academic staff that would concentrate power in the hands of its top guns and could spark a further backlash among those who see it as a means of political screening. The proposals, listed in a confidential document seen by the Post, would see HKU’s top management taking a more decisive role in appointing professors, thereby diluting individual faculties’ and staffing committees’ powers to approve appointments. Panel set up to... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1999756/university-hong-kong-considers-autocratic-hiring-overhaul?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1999756/university-hong-kong-considers-autocratic-hiring-overhaul?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Aug 2016 14:15:45 +0000 For a long time, student protesters and leaders have got off scot-free in the courts. Now, suddenly, the tide seems to have turned. Joshua Wong Chi-fung, Alex Chow Yong-kang and Nathan Law Kwun-chung, the three leading lights of the Occupy protest movement, have been convicted of inciting others to join an unlawful assembly, the first criminal convictions stemming from the mass protests that paralysed key parts of the city for 79 days. Meanwhile, Billy Fung Jing-en, the former head of the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1993507/lack-respect-laws-and-courts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1993507/lack-respect-laws-and-courts?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Jul 2016 17:35:29 +0000