Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Giving senior roles to mainland academics will damage HKU, students say

Giving senior roles to mainland academics will damage HKU, students say

Installing the two professors who hold positions at Tsinghua University in Beijing will jeopardise academic freedoms, union says.

The University of Hong Kong should decide against appointing two professors from mainland China to top management roles to ensure academic freedoms are protected, the institution’s student union and opposition district councillors have said.

The union further warned it might take legal action or call a strike by its 16,000 members if the university’s council approved the postings on Tuesday as expected.

HKU’s search committee has recommended Max Shen Zuojun for the job of vice-president of research and Gong Peng for the role of vice-president of academic development.


Jeh Tsz-lam, president of the University of Hong Kong Students’ Union (centre), and district councillor Roy Tam Hoi-pong (right) call for the university to decline hiring two mainland Chinese professors.


Both hold positions at Tsinghua University in Beijing and the University of California, Berkeley.

Shen was listed as a Communist Party member on Tsinghua’s website until Thursday, when the title was removed. But a HKU source familiar with the matter said the academic was not a member and had spent most of his time at UC Berkeley in recent years despite taking up a honorary teaching role at Tsinghua in 2014.

The HKU Students’ Union president Edy Jeh Tsz-lam said appointing Shen and Gong would effectively send a message that locals no longer needed to study at the city’s top university.

“That is because academic freedom will be completely gone,” she said.

Jeh suspected Shen was still a party member and warned allowing him to oversee the university’s research would be dangerous.

“It is no different than allowing the government or the Communist Party to control the university,” she said.

Jeh intends to pass a petition letter to the university’s council an hour before it discusses the appointments on Tuesday. As of 8pm on Monday, the student union had collected 2,100 signatures.

If hired, the professors would take up their roles in January at the earliest and serve for five years.


Professor Gong Peng has been recommended for the role of vice-president in academic development.


The union president pointed to a possible conflict of interest as HKU vice-chancellor Zhang Xiang, who was involved in the search, previously held a position at UC Berkeley.

Central and Western district councillor Jordan Pang Ka-ho, a former vice-president of the student union, said the selection process lacked transparency, noting the composition of the search committee and its criteria were not made public.

“We also didn’t see any consultations,” Pang said, adding that in previous years, candidates had met different stakeholders.

Sai Kung district councillor Gary Fan Kwok-wai, a former lawmaker, urged the university to avoid rushing the decision, saying some people were worried about HKU retaining autonomy in research funding and human resource management.

But pro-establishment lawmaker Jimmy Ng Wing-ka, a member of The Court, the university’s legislative body, said the appointments were wrongly being viewed through a biased lens.

“Does anyone ask a local university to explain when they appoint an American into a senior management position?” Ng said. “People are concerned because the professors are coming from Tsinghua.”


Max Shen Zuojun has been put forward for the job of vice-president of research.


Freedoms in Hong Kong would be protected if people and institutions abided by the law, he argued.

“There’s no law or rule saying that professors cannot have political affiliations. If professors cannot have political affiliation, those ‘yellow’ academics should be dismissed,” he said, referring to professors supportive of last year’s anti-government protests.

A concern group consisting of HKU alumni, meanwhile, called on Shen to clarify whether he was a party member. They also warned that two highly ranked professors coming from Berkeley backgrounds might lead to the formation of a clique. “It will not be good for the university’s development,” a representative said.

But HKU council member Professor Lo Chung-mau told a Monday evening radio programme the ongoing public discussion about the university’s staffing process represented “serious interference”.

“Why is the university now being put on the table? We have followed all the mechanisms during this recruitment. Why is there a need for discussion from the whole world?” Lo asked.

It would be absurd to make a hiring decision based on whether or not a candidate was from the mainland, Lo added, saying the only consideration should be their academic credentials.

An HKU spokesman said: “The HKU council’s meeting agenda is confidential. Key personnel appointments will only be announced after all procedures are completed. It is not appropriate for the university to comment at this stage.”

HKU came under fire in July when its council overturned an inquiry committee’s findings on whether to fire law scholar Benny Tai Yiu-ting, one of the co-founders of the Occupy movement calling for political reform in 2014, after he was sentenced to 16 months’ jail over two public nuisance charges relating to protests.

In another controversial incident, liberal law scholar Johannes Chan Man-mun was recommended for the post of pro-vice-chancellor in 2014, but was eventually snubbed after being targeted by the pro-Beijing camp.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Germany Seeks Taliban Deal to Deport Afghan Migrants
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
×