Hong Kong Higher Education and Professionalism Toward 1997

Abstract

Within a period of less than ten years, Hong Kong has moved from a colonial society with two universities serving a small elite to a transitional society with six universities serving a rapidly expanded student population, as well as the modernization of mainland China. The rapid expansion has not occurred without difficulty.

This paper examines the manner in which Hong Kong's transition is influencing professionalism in its six universities. The main factors studied are working conditions, professional work (teaching, research, and service), university governance, university-society relations, and the international dimension of academic work. Data is drawn from the Carnegie Foundation's study of the academic profession in Hong Kong.

Among the major findings of the research are that close to 40 percent of the academic staff are employed on overseas terms and that over half of them expect to leave their institutions by 1997. Other findings include a dissatisfaction with aspects of institutional working conditions (such as intellectual atmosphere), and a lack of personal influence in shaping key academic policies.

The data also indicate that while Hong Kong was not at the bottom of the ranking in the recent international study in measures of academic freedom, it does not rank highly. It is unclear to what degree this relates to the recent trend toward self censorship. Nevertheless, given the fact that Hong Kong has long touted its freedom of speech, it is notable that it ranked below its East Asian neighbors (Japan and South Korea) on the question put to academics of whether academic freedom is strongly protected in its society. Finally, whether or not they accept the challenge, Hong Kong's universities are viewed as key institutions for the development of democratic institutions in Hong Kong's future.