John Lee urges University of Hong Kong’s feuding heads to focus on institution’s interests

Lee confirms Post report about his personal intervention, reminds institution’s leaders of billions spent on publicly funded universities

Hong Kong politics

Edith Lin

Published: 2:45pm, 11 Jun 2024

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Hong Kong’s leader has told the president and governing council head of the city’s oldest university to put the institution’s interests first as “an overriding principle”, after sources earlier said he personally stepped in to help end the infighting.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who serves as chancellor for the University of Hong Kong (HKU), said on Tuesday that he would “make a decision” about how to follow up after assessing reports from education officials who had spoken with vice-chancellor Xiang Zhang and council chairwoman Priscilla Wong Pui-sze.

Lee’s remarks confirmed the Post’s exclusive report on Monday, which cited sources saying that he had met the pair separately “more than once” recently to settle their dispute. The government has since set up a group to investigate the leadership row, which a source had suggested would occur.

“University of Hong Kong does not belong to any single person. It doesn’t belong to the vice-chancellor. It doesn’t belong to any individual of the council,” he told the press on Tuesday.

“I tried to coordinate their communication and I reminded them that good communication and cooperation are important. I also reminded them to take the interest of the university as the overriding principle in all their business.”

The university would also need to work on its procedures if current arrangements were ambiguous and should establish “clear accountability and responsibility” regarding its finances, Lee added.

The government has allocated and reserved a total of HK$63.2 billion for publicly funded universities across the last and current financial years. Photo: Dickson Lee

Lee also noted the government had been giving billions of dollars to HKU and other publicly funded universities every year, stressing that the management had the responsibility to fulfil standards and demands stipulated by the authorities.

“The governance of the university and also the administration have to [be] compatible and conform with the requirements of the agreement,” he said, adding that the government had to ensure proper use of public money.

Hong Kong’s authorities have allocated and reserved a total of HK$63.2 billion (US$8.1 billion) for publicly funded universities across the past two academic years and the current one.

The latest controversy at HKU was triggered in May when the council endorsed the appointment of several interim vice-president positions without consulting Zhang.

The university president fought back and condemned the council for “disregarding the fundamentals of good governance”, while the council issued an open letter to dismiss his claims.

Prominent HKU alumni weighed in, with former executive councillor Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun writing a joint letter with seven others to ask Lee to step in.