Campus chaos in HK is repelling talents
Education leaders say radicalization of universities has made the city less attractive to skilled people
Politicization of university campuses, which sometimes leads to campus chaos, had taken a toll on Hong Kong’s talent cultivation as well as weakening the city’s attractiveness to global talents, experts in academia said on Thursday.
The remarks came after Hong Kong recently lost its first place ranking to Singapore in Asia under the latest IMD World Talent Ranking which concerns talent attractiveness. Hong Kong’s ranking has dropped six places to the 18th globally, compared to last year.
Wong Kam-leung, chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, said Hong Kong’s drop in the ranking was a wake-up call to local universities and education authorities.
Wong said the “politicization” of campus affairs had affected the harmonious academic environment at universities. It has also undermined developments in scientific research.
In recent years, Hong Kong universities saw several incidents of campus unrest organized with a deliberate political agenda. These affected normal campus operations.
The incidents included the 79-day illegal “Occupy Central” movement in 2014, which saw a large number of universities students join the protests; a group of students from the University of Hong Kong violently storming into a closed-door meeting of the university’s top governing body in 2015; and Hong Kong Baptist University students occupying the school’s Language Center for eight hours and hurling insults at teachers in 2018.
“These radical acts would leave some professors and academics in doubt about their personal safety at school, which may lead to a shortage of good teachers,” Wong said. “This may also make local universities less attractive to global talents.”
Wong argues that schools and government bureaus should strengthen regulations and strictly forbid radical or even illegal acts on campus. “All of society should also reach a consensus that schools are where people study. We should say no to the extreme conduct of students,” he added.
Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, echoed Wong’s views. He noted that political movements such as “Occupy Central” used universities as a base, or “protective umbrella”, and then gradually expanded the political influence to all of society.
Lau, who’s an emeritus professor of sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said this radical political atmosphere had cast a negative impact on regular campus life.
He also noted that the filibustering in the Legislative Council had slowed down the government’s pace in promoting social development, which covers the education industry.
If the government’s new policies and reform measures on education had not been timely adopted, it would be more difficult for Hong Kong to attract global talents — or keep them here for long, Lau said.
Agreeing with Lau, Wong Yuk-shan, president of the Open University of Hong Kong, said the politicization on campus was due to some students’ poor understanding of the country and lack of a sense of national identity.
He believed schools should enhance relevant education and encourage more exchanges with the mainland.
“We should improve their understanding of the country’s latest development, such as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. This would help them develop the right knowledge about the nation and become more confident about Hong Kong’s future,” he said.
Peter Shiu Ka-fai, Legislative Council member