Hong Kong’s Baptist University, like CityU, can ‘afford’ 3 to 5% spending cut
President Alexander Wai also confident his institution can win bid for third medical school with advisers ‘not exposed to geopolitical risks’
Baptist University has said it can handle a 3 to 5 per cent cut in public funding over the next three years in the face of the Hong Kong government’s fiscal deficit, a day after City University indicated the same.
Earlier this month, finance chief Paul Chan Mo-po said there would be room to save money in the education sector as the city expected a nearly HK$100 billion (US$12.8 billion) deficit this financial year, while education minister Christine Choi Yuk-lin also made it clear authorities would push through a reduction in university funding.
“[Government funding cuts of] 3 to 5 per cent over the next three years, I think the university could afford it by tightening our belts,” Wai said at a reception.
“But any cuts that exceed that range would definitely impact [the operation of] the university,” he added, while noting it was the consensus of all eight public universities to ride out difficult times with the government.
When asked what Baptist University would do to accommodate the budget cuts, Wai said enrolling more non-local students or increasing their tuition fees were options, but not his “preferred ones” as education quality should be guaranteed.