The government has granted Hang Seng Management College university status, making it the second private university in Hong Kong.
The private education institution will be renamed the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, after approval from Chief Executive Carrie Lam and the Executive Council. It will be the 11th university in Hong Kong. Shue Yan University was the first to become a private university in 2006.
The college invited the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications to undertake an institutional review in 2017. The review concluded that the college met the standards expected of a private university.
The college’s predecessor, the Hang Seng School of Commerce, was founded in 1980 to provide mainly business diploma courses, and later matriculation courses and pre-associate and associate degree programmes. The school became the Hang Seng Management College in 2010.
During the 2018/19 academic year, the college operated 19 self-financing locally-accredited post-secondary programmes, including 17 bachelor’s degree programmes and two master’s degree programmes. Over 4,000 students attended in total.
‘Diversity’
Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung congratulated the institution and said that the development of private universities “added diversity to Hong Kong’s higher education system and provided a channel for all sectors of society to contribute resources and efforts for the benefit of students.”
Simon Ho, president of the college, welcomed the upgrade: “With the HSUHK title, we will continue to strive for development and innovation. With an aim to be the leading non-profit private university in the region, we will nurture future professionals and social leaders with integrity and social responsibility.”
Louisa Cheang, chair of the schools’s board of governors, said: “As the Hang Seng name embodies the ethos of ‘ever growing,’ we will further promote educational excellence and nurture ethical values and social responsibility among young people in Hong Kong.”
Education sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen said the upgrade was good news for the reputation for self-financing schools in Hong Kong.
“I hope they will further develop their strengths and to nurture students in the future,” he said.
