Expanding Institutional Talent Capacity: One School, Two Campuses to Enlarge Scale

 
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has been committed in recent years to advancing the development of an international hub for higher education and actively promoting the "Study in Hong Kong" brand. It aims to create a hub for gathering international high-end talents at various stages that meet development needs. In an interview with Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, Hong Kong Baptist University President Wei Bingjiang stated that the key to these policies lies in "scale." Therefore, it is crucial to leverage the advantages of mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area to help address Hong Kong's limitations of insufficient space and limited large scientific projects, thus enhancing the appeal of Hong Kong institutions. He used HKBU as an example, where campus space is limited, and the idea of relocating has long been contemplated. In recent years, efforts have been made to strengthen ties with the Beijing Normal University – Hong Kong Baptist University United International College (UIC) in Zhuhai and promote the "one school, two campuses" initiative, aiming to quickly resolve the issue of narrow spaces and allow greater flexibility in subject offerings. ● Reporter Ji Wenfeng of Hong Kong Wen Wei Po 

"Several universities in Hong Kong are actually quite small. Even when the eight major ones are combined, with 15,000 first-year university students annually, that makes 60,000 in four years. Some universities on the mainland have fifty or sixty thousand students at a single institution," said Wei Bingjiang. He estimated that, based on the 2020 research assessment exercise, the number of professors in the eight major universities is about 4,000, which is only comparable to the number of professors in a medium or larger university on the mainland. "If you say our professors are a bit better, I believe that, but the scale is still insufficient to exert significant influence." 

Large Scientific and Engineering Projects: Scale Brings Prospect 

In recent years, Hong Kong universities have consistently achieved excellent results in international rankings, with five universities ranked among the world's top 100. Wei Bingjiang noted that the current ranking methods tend to favor publications and citation rates, while impactful large scientific and engineering projects might not be fully reflected in the rankings. "Not every student looks at rankings; many students want to know what projects they can engage in when they come. We have these in Hong Kong, but we can do a bit more." The same goes for professors. "Top talents can go anywhere; we must let them fully unleash their abilities and ideas in Hong Kong, achieve greater fame and success in their fields, then they will be interested in coming." 

This involves the scale of research projects. In recent years, the Special Administrative Region Government has introduced the Distinguished Scholars Scheme to bring in international leading talents in innovation and technology. Last year's policy address allowed the quota of non-local students at government-funded post-secondary institutions to increase significantly to 40%. Wei Bingjiang described this as having "troops and generals," which indeed helps improve personnel scale, but it also exacerbates space issues in Hong Kong. 

Partnering with UIC to Leverage "Two Campuses" Advantage 

Wei Bingjiang cited Baptist University as the smallest campus among the eight universities. "When I took office as president, I already reflected that the biggest limitation here is space... Now I am already constrained by space constraints. If we develop further, even if I can hire people, where can I find a laboratory for them?" As a result, he admitted that the idea of relocating has long been on his mind and that he has been actively strengthening ties and exchanges with UIC to drive the "one school, two campuses" initiative. 

"Each time when finding space on the (HKBU) campus, you must reclaim some from others, and of course, they won't be happy about it, which leads to a lot of internal friction." In contrast, UIC's campus is ten times larger than that of HKBU. Earlier, he established an art and technology studio for a professor there. "There is space there, and at a fast pace, it takes just two and a half months to set up 5,000 square feet. It takes me longer than that to buy instruments and ship them, so the attraction is indeed significant." 

He likened the relationship between HKBU and UIC to "one country, two systems" to some extent. While both are the same school, in terms of law, they are two independent legal entities facing different legal regulations. "For example, I am not allowed to open engineering (subjects) here due to agreements made when upgrading to university level with the government; but there's no such restriction there. I'm not necessarily saying I have to do engineering over there, but I can." This effectively leverages the advantages of both locations. 

Returning to the issue of attracting top professors and the scale of research projects, Wei Bingjiang believes that Hong Kong is attractive to many overseas experts and scholars, but they can also see Hong Kong's issues, such as being a small city. He laughed and said that to this end, whether recruiting students or hiring professors, there is active promotion of the Greater Bay Area campus's advantages. 

"Use Hong Kong's free city to attract foreign talents while also letting them know they will not be constrained by Hong Kong's limited space. We can have laboratories and studios on mainland campuses, allowing them to do a lot of research and also get mainland funding. If they want to transfer knowledge, they can do so in mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area." He firmly believes that as long as the "one country, two systems" system advantage is maximized, Hong Kong can overcome some scale constraints and usher in further development.