Hong Kong-mainland run private universities are ‘rolling in uncharted waters' on the mainland, with organizers calling for equal status and treatment to breed young talent to serve the country.
Michelle Fei reports.
Amid growing cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland in almost every respect, Hong Kong experts in higher education have been seeking and fostering closer bonds with their mainland counterparts in the field.
However, 15 years after the handover, there has been only one institution of higher learning co-founded by Hong Kong and mainland parties so far - United International College (UIC), jointly founded by Beijing Normal University and Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU). According to the Chinese Association for Non-Government Education, UIC is among 79 private higher-education institutions, colleges and universities operating on the mainland as of May 2011.
Ng Ching-fai, president of UIC in Zhuhai - the first of its kind on the mainland - called for equal treatment for private universities to promote privately-funded higher education on the mainland, including these founded or to be founded by Hong Kong universities.
"First and foremost, the government should recognize that private colleges and universities can be as good as public ones as they take the same responsibility of providing young talent for the country, and they are as capable as public universities in achieving such goals," said Ng, who is also a Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress and former president of HKBU.
"Thus, private schools deserve a status equal to that of public schools. Private schools should also enjoy national education allowances based on the number of students, while teachers should be granted allowances similar to those for public educational institutions.
"The government should give private schools the right status and expect more from them. The first thing is to enhance the status of private schools on the mainland, including those founded by Hong Kong groups, and adopt the right attitude toward private education," Ng said.
On the mainland, there's a common public misunderstanding that private education, regardless of whether it's kindergarten or college, is all about money-making and making a profit is the top priority.
"A new attitude toward private education is needed," Ng stressed.
"Private schools aren't just money makers. In fact, UIC has been losing money over the past seven years," he said.
The college has been investing most of its income on upgrading teaching facilities, as well as campus infrastructure and facilities, such as libraries.
Like world-class private universities in the United States, such as Harvard and Yale, tuition fees could never make up a major part of its spending budget. Most income comes from government grants, research founding and donations from alumni or the community.
"The mainland does not have a donation tradition at this moment, not to mention the fact that the government's tax policy does not fancy donators as well.
"Under these circumstances, without donations and government grants, private schools can only survive on tuition fees, which is inadequate in helping them achieve world-class levels," Ng said.
Currently, UIC relies on tuition fees as its primary income. Thus, it could barely make any money since its founding in 2005.
With equal status with public schools, private education colleges and universities can enjoy education allowances and apply for national research funding and other means of financial support.
"With more support, in both the political and financial fields, private education can be non-profitable, such as aided schools in Hong Kong. Otherwise, private schools would have to seek investments from the business sector and become money-oriented," Ng said.
He called for greater flexibility in luring and allowing Hong Kong universities to operate on the mainland.
In his view, legislation should be drafted to allow Hong Kong universities, which are required to run campuses with their mainland counterparts, to have a say in setting tuition fees, according to a proposal he submitted to the National People's Congress.
Ng said UIC's application to set annual tuition fees at 30,000 yuan ($4,750), which is already much lower than that charged by HKBU, was rejected by the local watchdog in Guangdong Province as "too expensive."
"Tuition fees are the only income source for Hong Kong private schools operating on the mainland under existing policy," he said.
"As we have no grants from the Central Government, nor any donation from alumni, charging fees higher than those of public universities is reasonable."
Meanwhile, Hong Kong students intending to apply for admission to Hong Kong-founded colleges or universities on the mainland would find the tuition fees unaffordable as they can't apply for grants from the Hong Kong government.
"Hong Kong students should enjoy the same amount of grants as they are getting in Hong Kong," Ng said.
"This is one way to encourage Hong Kong-founded universities and colleges on the mainland, and ease the burden of limited education resources in the HKSAR.
"Personally, I seldom find universities on the mainland that have a unique character. Most universities are almost the same."
Hong Kong universities on the mainland will also benefit from the education system by making it more diversified and dynamic.
"We have to bring the whole personal educational and management systems for Hong Kong campuses to Zhuhai. Students are educated in English and could choose various courses," Ng said.
"The concept of teaching, like in Baptist University, is caring for students, and we focus on liberal arts education."
Besides teaching in English, another strength that Hong Kong universities could take to their mainland branches is the management system - the president's responsibility system under a board of directors.
Currently, there's no specific law to regulate Hong Kong private universities opening up on the mainland. Thus, such a school would be founded under the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools, which stipulates that the president or principal administrator of a Chinese-foreign cooperatively-run school should be Chinese.
However, thanks to the lack of such a law for Hong Kong private schools on the mainland. Hong Kong schools can elect their own president, so Hong Kong-founded schools on the mainland are still run by a board of directors and headed by a Hong Kong president.
"Like other mainland universities, we also have a party committee to facilitate the development of the college. We are still managed under the president's responsibility system with a board of directors," Ng said.
As the first Hong Kong-operated college on the mainland, Ng said the situation is like "rolling in uncharted waters" for UIC.
"We've no experience in this field and it's a fresh attempt for the government as well. All we know is to get the ball rolling."
To adapt to the education system on the mainland and embrace students who are already used to an examination-oriented education system, Ng said there's no experience to gather, but to "feel the rocks as one crosses the river" as he put it.
Fortunately, UIC has been gradually recognized by mainland students. It has raised its enrolment threshold from Category Three to Category One students, which are top students among all candidates, within only four years. That's a "miracle" for private universities on the mainland.
Other Hong Kong universities, including the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, are in talks with their mainland counterparts on establishing branches on the mainland.
媒体链接：http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hkedition/2012-04/28/content_15165722.htm
