Into an era of autonomy for universities in Hong Kong

Abstract

Universities in Hong Kong are publicly funded and have been under close scrutiny by the Funding Council. Due to Hong Kong's colonial status, its purpose for higher education has been fulfiling the demand of labour force in order to ensure smooth economic growth in the territory. As 1997 is approaching, the shift of sovereignty to China will inevitably cause changes in terms of the direction or even possibly the philosophy of higher education in Hong Kong. The UGC (previously called UPGC) in their most recent Interim Report of Higher Education 1991–2001 advocates the missions for its funded institutions and encourages them to have self-initiation in determining their strategic positioning and planning in order to develop their own areas of excellence. The funding council endows this autonomy to institutions by means of their funding mechanism. This article will examine Hong Kong situation from a historical context into the future prospect.