Calls to change how HKU chooses its boss after selection of Mathieson
Students say they should be more involved in process for selecting a vice chancellor, while staff want a shortlist of at least six candidates
University of Hong Kong student and staff representatives have called for changes to the selection process for its chief after strong opposition to the appointment of British professor Peter Mathieson as vice chancellor.
Oscar Ng Wai-ka, vice-chairman of student body Arts Association, asked why students were not represented on the search committee that reportedly prepared a shortlist of three for a selection body to choose from.
Staff association president Stephen Chan Chit-kwai suggested the selection panel should have been given at least six candidates so it had back-ups if its first choice was not found suitable.
Mathieson, a dean of the University of Bristol's medicine and dentistry faculty, was appointed to lead the 102-year-old institution for the next five years, four days after the selection panel named him as the sole candidate.
The process by which Mathieson was picked began two years ago when the university council set up an ad hoc group that listed selection criteria and decided to follow past practice in creating the search and selection committees.
The former consisted of three professors and Paul Chow Man-yiu, former chief of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing. With the help of a head-hunting firm, it short-listed candidates for the selection committee to interview.
