In describing how fierce the competition for students and teachers has become as a result of more universities establishing a presence on the mainland, one campus president doesn't mince words.
'We've become a victim of our own success,' said Professor Ng Ching-fai, president of United International College (UIC).
A partnership between Baptist University in Hong Kong and Beijing Normal University, UIC started off six years ago as a little-known facility in Zhuhai scrambling for recruitment, but Ng said it was now capable of competing with some of the mainland's most prestigious universities for the best students.
Inspired by the success of UIC and several other partnership universities, Ng, a chemistry professor who worked at Baptist University for 25 years, including nine years as its president, said both the central government and regional administrations were launching more joint-venture universities to help overhaul the nation's sprawling academic system.
The nationwide effort is in particular targeting higher-learning institutions, but it has been criticised for diminishing the quality of teaching and for putting rote learning ahead of cultivating creativity.
'It would be wrong to say we're not worried about competition,' Ng said. He expects UIC to lose some of its experienced teaching staff. 'However, we're better positioned as a liberal arts college; we're confident of [our future] as long as we can deliver what we've promised.' UIC, which opened in 2005, was built within Beijing Normal University's Zhuhai campus in Guangdong with a 150 million yuan loan from Baptist University. UIC was allowed to be set up along with several other joint-venture colleges as part of Beijing's promise to open up the education sector after it joined the World Trade Organisation in December 2001.
