This undated photo shows students walking on the campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)
The central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong will actively facilitate Hong Kong universities to offer educational services in mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the office’s head told management of 11 Hong Kong tertiary education institutions on Wednesday.
Zheng Yanxiong, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, made the remarks at a meeting with presidents and council chairmen of the institutions, including eight University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded universities. This is the first time that the office has invited so many higher education representatives to exchange views.
Both Teng Jinguang, president of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Andrew Yao Cho-fai, chairman of the council of Lingnan University, said that Zheng Yanxiong has pledged to render support for local universities to seek development in mainland GBA cities or deepen ties with GBA counterparts
Both Teng Jinguang, president of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Andrew Yao Cho-fai, chairman of the council of Lingnan University, said that Zheng has pledged to render support for local universities to seek development in mainland GBA cities or deepen ties with GBA counterparts.
Teng recalled that Zheng has pinned high hopes on the post-pandemic development of Hong Kong’s tertiary education, saying it is quite “promising and of much potential”.
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The office said it will continue to support Hong Kong to develop into an international center of innovation and technology and take advantage of the Northern Metropolis and the Greater Bay Area blueprint to promote and apply the results of Hong Kong’s scientific research.
Yao said Zheng had spoken highly of Hong Kong’s higher education, and described education as a feature of the city. The liaison office officials expressed the hopes that local universities would make the most of their connections with the Chinese mainland and overseas region, and cultivate more talent to serve the national strategy of developing Hong Kong into an international hub in eight areas, Yao said.
Rocky Tuan Sung-chi, president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said Zheng noted that Hong Kong’s higher education should retain its international edge to attract talent and consolidate Hong Kong as a center of innovation, technology and multiculturalism.
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Zheng said he hopes that Hong Kong and mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area can complement each other’s strengths in industry and academic research for win-win cooperation. He also encouraged Hong Kong universities to cultivate more talented people who love the city and the country.