CityU staff seek clarification over funds used to hire teachers

City University's staff union yesterday called on the management to clarify whether public funds had been used to hire 200 staff for self-financed programmes.

Dr John Tse Wing-ling, the staff union's chairman, said the management had told members of the university's board in a recent meeting that it had hired at least an extra 200 staff between 2006 and 2008, and therefore it should be cautious when reviewing staff pay.

A City University spokeswoman said last night that the 200 staff were hired for the "overall development" of the university.

The university offers such programmes at its privately run Community College as well as in some university departments.

The city's eight public tertiary institutions received HK$5 billion in tuition fees for privately run programmes last year. "If this is public funds, how come it can be spent this way?" Tse said.

The staff union has been in a row with management over a change in the pay structure that saw guaranteed annual salary increases replaced by a performance-based system.