Members’ Motion “Dynamically planning and consolidating the site to expedite the development of the Northern Metropolis University Town”
Deputy President, higher education plays an important role in upgrading manpower reserve and labour force quality, promoting technological innovation and industrial upgrading, as well as developing social culture and soft power. It is the engine of regional development. The Northern Metropolis (“NM”) provides valuable land resources for the development of the Northern Metropolis University Town (“NMUT”). By strengthening the traditional advantages of Hong Kong’s institutions, bringing in quality education resources and pooling together top talents in various disciplines, I believe that the attractiveness and competitiveness of Hong Kong as an international education hub can be enhanced. I support the motion proposed by Mr LAU Kwok-fan and all the amendments.
Innovation and technology (“I&T”) is a focus of the NM development. With the proximity of San Tin Technopole and Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park to the planned land site of NMUT, a large number of enterprises will be clustered here, but talent and technology reserves still need to be strengthened. I&T is not a field where Hong Kong enjoys traditional advantages. The Government can, after discussion with local institutions, invite interested Mainland universities to work together, so as to bring in education resources and build up a solid foundation for I&T at root. As one of the centres of I&T development in the Mainland, Shenzhen attaches great importance to the synergy between education and industry. Actively collaborating with universities in other provinces, the Shenzhen Municipal Government has attracted quite a number of institutions strong in I&T (e.g. Tsinghua University and University of Electronic Science and Technology of China) to establish research institutes there. This is one of the major reasons why Shenzhen has been able to maintain its leading position in the field of I&T. Our Government can draw on such practices.
Using English as the main medium of instruction and engaging a large number of overseas professors, universities in Hong Kong have a solid foundation for cooperation and exchanges with overseas higher education institutions. In addition to collaboration with Mainland institutions, the Government can also set targets for the internationalization of NMUT to ensure that this strength and distinctiveness is maintained.
The inadequate supply of hostel places has all along been a pain point for students coming to Hong Kong to pursue studies. According to the data of a consulting firm, there was a shortfall of more than 47 600 hostel places for non‑local students in the 2023-2024 academic year, with the overall shortfall being possibly over 55 400, meaning that for about every three students, there was only one available hostel place. The planning for the NMUT development should list student hostels as one of the key issues to be addressed. The Government can compile statistics on the demand for student hostel places of various institutions and the number of hostel places required for future development, including the demand from teaching staff, after which it can make planning for the functional areas based on land use, with a focus on the construction of some hostels to alleviate the tight supply of hostel places. At the same time, the future hostel fees should be controlled within a reasonable range. The Government should actively negotiate with the higher education institutions to reduce the burden on students burden in this regard as far as possible.
There is also a need to establish a close relationship between higher education and the work on attracting enterprises and investment, so as to achieve the matching of disciplines and industries, so that research institutes of universities not only can provide talents for enterprises, but also reduce the trial-and-error costs for entrepreneurs. When attracting companies to NM, the Government can carry out the selection based on academic disciplines, and encourage the enterprises to provide internships, so that students in NMUT can have more opportunities to apply what they have learnt in real-life context.
In order to better realize the potential of NMUT, other ancillary facilities should also be planned precisely to meet the needs. Teachers and students studying and living in NMUT comprise not only Hong Kong residents, but also a large number of people from the Mainland and overseas. These groups need to go to different government departments to handle matters such as application for Hong Kong Identity Cards upon arrival in Hong Kong. At present, the Yuen Long Office of the Immigration Department is closer to Hung Shui Kiu/Ha Tsuen New Development Area but farther away from New Territories North New Town. The Government may consider setting up an additional service point in New Territories North to divert the pressure which the Yuen Long Office will face in handling such applications, and make it more convenient for new arrival teachers and students to make appointments.
On the other hand, the support of functional areas with a certain number of hotels to accommodate foreign visitors, conference centres to stage events, etc. is essential for NMUT to have the further capacity to host large-scale academic events such as international educational conferences and exhibitions. While catering for scientific research and transformation of outcomes, the Government needs to reserve sufficient space of various types in the planning in order to enhance our competitiveness as an international education hub.
Deputy President, NMUT should aim to be international and world‑class, and drive the quality of Hong Kong’s higher education to new heights.
With these remarks, I hope that the development of NMUT can be expedited. Thank you.