bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

THE CHINESE University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has decided to establish two new colleges by 2012 with $270 million donated by tycoons.

CUHK is the only university in Hong Kong which has a collegiate system. Currently, it has four colleges - Chung Chi College, New Asia College, United College and Shaw College.

The university council last week announced the establishment of the new colleges in view of the four-

year curriculum due to be implemented in 2009.

Under the proposed education reforms, CUHK would have to take in 3,000 more students from the 2009/10 academic year, the council said.

S. H. Ho College is named after the S. H. Ho Foundation, which has donated $170 million to the university. The foundation was set up by the founder of Hang Seng Bank, Ho Sin-hang, and the Ho family.

Morningside College pays tribute to the Morningside Foundation and Morningside Education Foundation which have donated $100 million to CUHK. The foundations were established by property developer, Ronnie Chan Chi-chung, his brother, Gerald Lok-chung, and their family.

S. H. Ho College and Morningside College will cater

to 600 and 300 students, respectively, who will be able to live on the campus and enjoy all its facilities.

They are  small compared to the four existing colleges which have more than 2,000 students each.

A planning committee will be set up to ensure that the colleges are ready by 2012.

The university's student union greeted the announcement about the new colleges with scepticism.

The students are angry that they were not fully consulted before the decision was made. Some of them were worried that the university might be subject to the influence of the business sector.

But CUHK stressed that extensive consultations, including 18 briefings and forums, had been conducted on the issue over the past few months.

The university is also considering setting up one or two more colleges, each catering to about 1,200 students. The existing colleges may expand their capacity as well.

CUHK vice-chancellor, Lawrence Lau Juen-yee, said they were very happy about the benefactors' generosity and their enthusiastic support for the institution. 'I hope that the intimate environment of these new, relatively small colleges will foster a close relationship among students and staff, and help students learn and grow,' he said.



CUHK sets up new colleges with donations