Hong Kong universities should press on with building global connections: Zheng Yanxiong
Head of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong says city can build an ‘interconnected international higher education cooperation network’
Beijing’s top man in Hong Kong has urged local universities to push forward and further expand their ties with global tertiary institutions as the city strives to become an international education hub.
Zheng Yanxiong, director of the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong, also called on the city’s universities to nurture students with vision and academic integrity, as well as contribute to the humanities.
Zheng was speaking at the Global University Presidents and Leaders Summit 2024 on Monday, which drew more than 50 speakers and representatives from globally renowned institutions, including Tsinghua University, the University of Tokyo, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
“[Hong Kong] should maintain the important direction of internationalisation and build an interconnected international higher education cooperation network,” Zheng said in his opening remarks.
“With the central government’s support, the city’s administration has maintained the baseline of university safety and stability, steadfastly protected university autonomy and academic freedom, supported universities in conducting extensive international cooperation and promoted rapid development of Hong Kong universities.”
He hailed Hong Kong universities as “having particularly prominent international characteristics”, citing the Times Higher Education World University Rankings in January which put four from the city in the top 10 of the most international institutions among more than 1,900 worldwide.
