The publication of the long-awaited document comes amid increasing calls for the governing structures of the eight publicly funded institutions to be changed
SHIRLEY.ZHAO@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Thursday, 31 March, 2016, 12:29am
HKU council chairman Arthur Li is being pressed to discuss governance reform. Photo: SCMP Pictures
The chief executive’s power to appoint members of university governing councils and their lack of control over finding the right governors to suit their needs may have “potential consequences”, according to a long-awaited report published on Wednesday by a public institution funding body.
The report, written by University Grants Committee (UGC) member and former University of Liverpool vice-chancellor Howard Newby, is the result of a study undertaken in 2014 to review the composition and roles of the eight publicly funded institutions’ governing councils.
It came amid an intense debate over the independence of governing councils, with angry university students storming or laying siege to council meetings, demanding that Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying be stripped of his power to appoint members. They have accused Leung and his allies of political interference in academic matters.
The report stopped short of mentioning political interference and discussing whether such power should be scrapped, but it noted that Hong Kong’s system of recruiting university council members was “unusual” internationally because governing bodies in other countries selected members themselves
The proportion of council members appointed by the chief executive ranges from 12 to 76 per cent among Hong Kong’s eight publicly funded tertiary institutions.
These institutions have “little or no control over how [the council] may meet its requirements”, Newby said in the report. “These difficulties are also compounded by the fact that no university maintains a readily available skills template which can form the basis of discussions with ... the chief executive’s office.”
Newby suggested universities draw up their own skills templates for council members.
Newby had five more recommendations, including that the UGC review university governance every five years and set out the roles and responsibilities of universities and the government.
The report also recommended that universities establish key performance indicators for the councils to assess development progress, that councils should identify potential developmental risks for the universities and that councils should clarify their own management structure.
The report was submitted to the Education Bureau in September and endorsed on Wednesday. The bureau will next invite the UGC to oversee the implementation of the recommendations after consultation with stakeholders.
The University of Hong Kong’s council, which was rocked by unrest over the rejection of a liberal scholar to its governing council, has promised students that it will set up a review panel after the publication of the Newby report
Additional reporting by Peace Chiu
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1932198/lack-control-hampers-hong-kong-university
