has become a political football between the Education and Manpower Bureau
and the heads of the eight universities in Hong Kong.
The Education and Manpower Bureau said university privatization is a world-wide trend that can make tertiary education more flexible. It would allow independence in student enrollment, the arrangement of human resources, staff salaries, and curriculum design.
True, privatizing universities can provide more freedom for them to decide their policies. However, we should not focus only on the advantages of privatization, neglecting the problems that may arise.
Firstly, universities will have to be responsible for all of their expenses after privatization. If there are not enough funds, then curriculum, staff or research may be cut. Then the quality of university education will surely deteriorate.
Increasing university school fees might become one of the ways that universities would use to boost revenues. In fact, compared with many other countries, university school fees in Hong Kong are pretty high. If school fees are increased, many students and their families will not be able to afford a university education. There may be two consequences: One might be that students would acquire a big debt, say, $600,000 or $700,000; the other might be that university education would become a benefit of the rich only. Both outcomes are contrary to the idea of universal education.
Fund raising is another important method that universities use to obtain money. The main donors are businessmen. In order to satisfy these businessmen, universities have to show that they are doing things that will somehow benefit their sponsors. Under privatization, universities might support only academic research that helps economic development, cutting resources on subjects that have no market value.
These changes would cause education to lose its way. They also would make one wonder if universities are going to educate a person to be an employee or a well-rounded, knowledgeable person who can think and judge things independently. We should not pass the education burden from academics to businessmen.
Some people might argue that private universities are successful in other countries. The problem, however, is that these models are not applicable to Hong Kong. The success of private institutions in other countries is due both to huge operating budgets and a well-developed network of alumni. Hong Kong lacks these.
University privatization is conceptually good. However, there are many problems that we must overcome beforehand. Unless the Education and Manpower Bureau wants to separate the practical universities from the integrated ones, now is not a suitable time to launch the privatization scheme. It would only interfere with educational reform and make a mess of the education system.
Education is a huge investment whose return may be disproportional to its input. However, it must be a responsibility that the government never gives up.
