Two pro-Beijing Legislative Council candidates, DAB’s Wilson Or Chong-shing and former Law Society President Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, are facing questions over the credibility of their educational attainments.
Or, a district councillor belonging to the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, is running for a seat in the Kowloon East constituency. On the party’s election website, Or is listed as having a master’s degree, but the page gave no further details as to what school Or obtained the degree from.
Or clarified recently, following questions about his academic qualifications, that he had taken the MBA degree with Nottingham Trent University through an organisation named Raffles Academy – World Education Council, Ming Pao reported. Last week, Or posted a picture of his graduation certificate on Facebook and said that he commenced studying in 2010 and graduated in 2013 – but the shot was of low quality and it was difficult to make out the details on the certificate.
However, the university told Ming Pao on Thursday following enquiries by the paper that there existed no records of any student named “Or Chong-shing” or “Or Chong-shing Wilson” on their system. The school’s spokesperson did not respond to questions as to whether it would investigate the incident, but confirmed that the university had signed a validation service agreement with Raffles Academy, which ended in December 2013.
Or himself did not respond to questions from Ming Pao, and his election agent said that Or had already discussed the issue during election forums and on Facebook. He did not directly give a reply as to why the university did not have Or’s student records.
Meanwhile, the academic qualifications of pro-Beijing candidate Junius Ho Kwan-yiu have also come under scrutiny. The former Law Society President’s personal webpage says, “Having studied at Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom (formerly known as Chelmer Institute of Higher Education), Junius obtained his Bachelor of Law Degree in 1984… Junius was further awarded with the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by Anglia Ruskin University in 2011.”
However, netizens pointed out that Anglia Ruskin University was only established in 1992 and prior to that, the Chelmer Institute of Higher Education was a tertiary college. They questioned whether Ho obtained a degree or merely a higher diploma, Apple Daily reported.
At a Facebook live session, Ho insisted that he was a graduate of the LLB – meaning an undergraduate degree in law – and added, “Don’t you care about where I’m from, I’m just telling you it’s not [a university with questionable accreditation], okay?”
