University calls for government funds for shared sites in Northern Metropolis

Hong Kong authorities should shoulder a larger share of the cost of facilities jointly used by institutions at the Northern Metropolis university towns, a varsity president has said, while calling for dedicated research funding to encourage collaboration among campuses.

Professor Stephen Cheung Yan-leung, president of the private Saint Francis University, said that while individual institutions could finance the construction of their own campuses, the government should contribute more towards shared infrastructure such as research and student entrepreneurship centres.

“For facilities that everyone will use, the government could contribute more,” he told a radio programme on Sunday.

Cheung said universities had the money to develop campuses, adding that many had expressed an interest in doing so.