Students Propose New Body To Choose Council Head

A student-led review committee at the University of Hong Kong has called for the setting up of a nomination body that would be responsible for picking candidates to head the university's governing council.

Students say this would eliminate any possible interference from the government or the Chief Executive, who's also the chancellor of all publicly-funded universities.

The appointment – and recent reappointment – of Arthur Li as the HKU Council chairman sparked controversy, and the university's student union last year established a special review commission to look into the appointment process.

In its report, it says the role of the chancellor should only be ceremonial, and he or she should be stripped of the power to appoint the council's chairperson.

Instead, students say the HKU Council itself should be responsible for the appointment. They proposed setting up an eight-member nomination committee to come up with one or more suitable candidates for council members to consider.

The president of the university's student union, Davin Wong, said the committee should consist of three lay members, the vice-chancellor, the treasurer, one member of staff and one student representative, as well as the registrar to serve as secretary.

"We mainly focus on addressing the current problem faced by the council, which is that the university members and council members lack trust and confidence in the council chairman," Wong said.

"The composition of the nomination committee is more or less similar to the council, where we believe different members of the council including lay members, officers of the university, employees and teaching staff, and students should be involved," he said.

Wong added that if the council refused to endorse the candidate or candidates proposed by the committee, then a new nomination committee should be formed and the process should start anew.

He said the council would meet to discuss the students' recommendations in March.