Hong Kong universities are among the world's top-notch universities and are often ranked in the top 100, says Professor Anthony Cheung, President of the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd), an institution dedicated to teacher training.

In his opinion, Hong Kong is totally well-prepared to become a regional education hub in the wake of the emergence of Asia, particularly China and India as great powers in the 21st century.

Speaking to China Daily in an exclusive interview, he said the primary objective of universities is the profession and transfer of knowledge. At the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century, research universities were very popular in Germany, prompting many American universities to follow suit. And since the end of the 20th century, universities adopted an additional task of nurturing talents commensurate with and conducive to economic development in their countries.

In Hong Kong, the eight tertiary institutions subsidized by the government-funded University Grants Committee (UGC) have different missions and specialties, he observed.

For instance, the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong are traditional universities.

The City University and Hong Kong Polytechnic University are more of the polytechnic sort, Lingnan University is a liberal arts university while HKIEd is one that specializes in training of teachers.

In the China context, Hong Kong is a very important education cluster. Although there are not many universities in Hong Kong, they are among the best in the country.

"Hong Kong has the full credentials for being a regional education hub. Of course, it has to meet the competition of neighboring countries such as Singapore, South Korea, Japan and India, as each of them possesses the strengths, specialties and vision to become an education hub in the region."

In analyzing the internationalization of higher education, Cheung observed three waves of developments over the past several decades.

The first wave saw a great many Asian students going to study in Western countries in the early years. "The majority of Hong Kong's first-generation academics and heads of universities were graduates of universities in Western countries," he said.

During the second wave, foreign universities offered courses in conjunction with tertiary institutions in Asia and therefore widened the internationalization of tertiary education.

As to the third wave, foreign universities even set up offshore campuses in Asia from the mid- and late 1990s.

Cheung has also observed a fourth wave of development. As a result of an increasingly active higher education market in Asia, many talented people have emerged, say Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, from the University of Hong Kong, who produced unique research results to combat the SARS disease.

"From this time, local universities have the credentials to attract foreign students to come to study in Hong Kong. In the past, it was only a one-way movement and now it is a two-way traffic as students in Asia and Western countries are moving in both directions.

"Our universities are comparable to first class tertiary institutions in the US and Europe, meaning that foreign students will find the standard of teaching and facilities here are in no way inferior to their home countries," he said.

The HKIEd president further said Hong Kong and Asia as a whole possess a kind of niche and have a competitive edge over other places. To become an education hub, Hong Kong needs to build more universities and admit a far larger number of students from foreign countries, the mainland and locally.

"I think we have that kind of niche," he said.

"Since the beginning of the 21st century, Asia has been an emerging power, with India and China being part of the four BRIC countries. Look at Margaret Chan, Director-General of World Health Organization: she is a Hong Kong citizen and former director of health of the Hong Kong SAR government, while United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon comes from South Korea."

Cheung also predicted that private universities will play an important role in Hong Kong's pursuit to become an education hub in the region.

"Hong Kong today has the credentials to export its education service. Of course, it needs to further strengthen the quality of teachers in the universities. Hong Kong has also other strengths, as it is a free place that is conveniently located and easily accessible, while the visa procedure is also very convenient to the visitors," he said.

As he pointed out, since the level of financial assistance to the UGC-funded universities is well over 70 percent, for financial reasons, it is unlikely that the government will subsidize any more universities than the present eight institutions.

Given the UGC funds come from taxpayers' money, many people argue that it is inappropriate to admit too many foreign students to government-funded tertiary institutions.

"It will then give rise to private universities to provide new higher education opportunities. It is our hope to raise the quality of Hong Kong tertiary education through the development of private universities.

"To fulfill this goal, we need to enhance the competitive edge of our universities to attract Western, Asian and mainland students to come to study in Hong Kong," he said.

There is no problem as to whether the overseas students will remain to work in Hong Kong after graduation. "Even if they return to their home countries, they will enhance Hong Kong's reputation as an education hub if they do well in their professions," he said.

"Hong Kong will enjoy great fame if any of the graduates become foreign government ministers or famous persons and list in their resumes that they graduated in Hong Kong," he said enthusiastically.

Cheung also predicted that the future universities in Hong Kong will be private universities, as it is clear that the government will not subsidize any more universities beyond the eight.

In this connection, he suggested enacting a new private university law that regulates matters such as land grant and operation of the private universities.

He also dismissed the concern that there will be too many universities or university students in Hong Kong.

"At present, the annual intake of first year university students in Hong Kong is about 14,500, meaning that only 18 percent of the young people have access to tertiary education. Even if this ratio is doubled, it will still be below 40 percent, which is not that high as compared with other countries," he explained.

"We don't have too many university students in Hong Kong. Look at Singapore, its population is only half that of Hong Kong, but it has very many universities," he said.

"If there are lot more universities in Hong Kong, they can admit not only local students, but also foreign and mainland students, particularly because the mainland can provide a very huge source of university students."

(HK Edition 09/25/2009 page4)