John Lee tells education officials to ‘learn more’ about University of Hong Kong council tensions as city has ‘high expectations’

“HKU is a successful university that belongs to Hong Kong. [The city’s] citizens and I myself, of course, have high expectations of good governance in HKU,” he said.

“I have tasked the Education Bureau to learn more about what is happening, they will report to me and then I shall discuss with them about the way forward.”

The Post earlier reported the council had voted in a meeting last week to endorse the appointment of several interim vice-president positions without consulting Zhang, in a move that broke from tradition.

The decision effectively demoted Zhang’s right-hand man, deputy vice-chancellor Richard Wong Yue-chim, who had been serving as interim provost since 2019.

Under usual practice, senior management positions are first chosen by the university’s search committee and appointed by the council.

But before such positions are officially filled, the president can nominate candidates to serve in interim positions for the council to endorse.

A source told the Post that Zhang was seeking legal advice on the proper procedures for the selection of candidates for these positions, as the vice-chancellor was normally consulted in the process.

The source also said the vice-chancellor had already compiled a list of nominees several months ago, but he could not reach a consensus with council chairwoman Wong about raising the names for discussion with the council.

The list of candidates eventually approved by the council were completely different from the names compiled by Zhang, the insider added.

Tensions between Zhang and the council surfaced last year when the former was accused of misconduct and mismanagement.

Wong had pledged to get to the bottom of the accusations by setting up an investigative panel, which eventually cleared Zhang in April of any wrongdoing.

Zhang earlier also reportedly conceded he had a “tense relationship” with the council chairwoman, saying they had different views on how to run a university.

The Post has reached out to the Education Bureau and HKU for comment.