Scholars urge University of Hong Kong president to find suitable replacements after two more members of senior management team resign
- University professor expresses concern over resignations in the face of stiff competition from other institutes on the mainland and Greater Bay Area
- Spokesperson says resignations are due to personal reasons and ensures there will be no disruption to day-to-day management
Academics on Wednesday urged University of Hong Kong president Zhang Xiang to appoint replacements as soon as possible after he revealed that two more members of its senior management team had resigned.
In an email to his staff, Zhang announced that the university’s executive vice-president for administration and finance Steven Cannon and vice-president for research Professor Andy Hor Tzi-sum had recently resigned citing “personal reasons”.
A spokesman for the university said: “The resignations are purely due to personal and family reasons, and are not related to the prevailing social and political situations in Hong Kong.”
Cannon, who joined the university in 2013, will return to Britain after his resignation takes effect from October. Hor, who joined in 2015, will return to Singapore as he was due to leave in February next year.
The resignations mean that after Zhang took office in July last year, four out of six members in his senior management team have resigned, while the appointments of the two remaining members, vice-presidents Ian Holliday and Terry Au Kit-fong, will also expire by the end of this year and next year respectively.
