What’s the hidden meaning behind Shenzhen University taking the lead in setting up a campus in Hong Kong?
Higher education cooperation in the Greater Bay Area enables “two-way flow”
Not long ago, Mao Junfa, president of Shenzhen University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, revealed that Shenzhen University has taken the lead in setting up a Hong Kong campus.
More and more universities from Hong Kong and Macao are coming to the mainland, especially Guangdong, to jointly run schools, which is becoming a new trend.
Today, there are 10 Chinese (overseas) cooperative universities with independent legal person status in the mainland, 5 of which are in Guangdong.
Other Chinese-foreign, Hong Kong and Macao cooperative educational institutions and projects that are not independent legal persons are popping up everywhere.
However, this is the first time that a mainland university has gone global and set up a campus in Hong Kong, a place where university experts gather, such as Shenzhen University.
This also means that the higher education cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has achieved “two-way flow”.
Why is Shenzhen University "eating crabs"?
Shenzhen University has long planned to set up an educational institution in Hong Kong.
During the National Two Sessions in 2021, Li Qingquan, secretary of the Party Committee of Shenzhen University who was serving as president at the time, put forward the suggestion of running a school in Hong Kong.
He believes that as the mainland's closest comprehensive university to Hong Kong, Shenzhen University has unique advantages in running schools in Hong Kong. "There are more than 200 Hong Kong students studying at Shenzhen University and more than 10,000 Shenzhen University alumni working in Hong Kong."
At the same time, Shenzhen University has established cooperation with many universities in Hong Kong, covering eight major public universities such as the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, involving teachers’ collaborative scientific research, joint student training, and joint construction of laboratories and research centers.
In addition, Shenzhen University also participated in the organization of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen).
Shenzhen University also has experience in running schools “going global”.
In 2023, Shenzhen University Tokyo College, co-organized by Shenzhen University and Japan's SPRIX Co., Ltd., will officially start classes. This is the first overseas educational institution established by Shenzhen University.
Shenzhen University Tokyo College is a non-independent legal person teaching college affiliated with Shenzhen University. It is located in Yotsuya, Shinjuku District, Tokyo. It mainly recruits Japanese citizens and other overseas citizens. It mainly provides undergraduate-level academic education. After graduation, students will receive academic qualifications awarded by Shenzhen University. Certificate and bachelor's degree.
By setting up a campus in Hong Kong, Shenzhen University became the "first to try something new" among mainland universities.
The "Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area" proposes to support the cooperation of universities in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao in running schools and encourage the joint construction of superior disciplines, laboratories and research centers.
However, for a long time, the cooperative education among universities in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao has mainly involved universities from Hong Kong and Macao “going north” to set up educational institutions in the mainland, which is a “one-way flow”.
Yang Yongcong, deputy dean of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Research Institute of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, believes that Shenzhen University’s establishment of a campus in Hong Kong has set a precedent for mainland universities to “go south” to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao, breaking this “one-way flow” model.
For mainland universities, setting up schools in Hong Kong and attracting more students from Hong Kong, Macao and international students will improve the level of international education and have greater influence internationally.
"Going abroad" to run schools, these problems need to be solved
Shenzhen University is not the first mainland university to “go global” to run schools abroad and in Hong Kong and Macao.
There are many successful precedents for running schools abroad, such as the Malaysian branch of Xiamen University and the British campus of Peking University.
Among the universities in Guangdong, there are Tokyo College of Shenzhen University and Japan College of Jinan University.
Mainland universities are exploring the possibility of running schools in Macao, with South China Normal University being the pioneer.
Since the 1980s, SCNU has cooperated with different types of units such as the Macau Department of Education, the Macau Chinese Education Association, and the Macau Amateur Continuing Education Center to open school branches, focusing on training teachers in Macau primary and secondary schools, forming a relatively complete structure for Macau. school system.
But overall, the proportion of mainland universities going abroad and running schools abroad is still relatively small.
Yang Yongcong analyzed that for mainland universities to open educational institutions in Hong Kong, first, there are institutional barriers to the flow of factors, such as teachers, scientific research equipment, funds, etc. from mainland universities, which are difficult to flow across the border efficiently and conveniently; second, in the current university management system, mainland universities The autonomy of colleges and universities in running schools is relatively limited, such as enrollment indicators and enrollment thresholds, which require the approval of the education department on an item-by-item basis.
Hong Kong's higher education is advanced and highly market-oriented. It is difficult to reflect the competitive advantages of mainland universities and attract students from Hong Kong, Macao and international students.
At the same time, mainland universities still lack experience in international education.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has the characteristics of “one country, two systems, three customs territories, and three legal systems”.
Such particularity and complexity make the integrated development of higher education in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area face many constraints.
"Shenzhen University's pioneering exploration will provide a reference for more mainland universities, especially universities in mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area, to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao." Yang Yongcong said.
It is recommended to legislate specifically for cooperative education in the Greater Bay Area
In November 2020, the Ministry of Education and the Guangdong Provincial Government jointly issued the "Plan for Promoting Higher Education Cooperation and Development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area", proposing to comprehensively promote higher education cooperative education, cooperative education, cooperative innovation, and cooperative services in the Greater Bay Area, and The Bay Area has become a national pilot zone for deepening the reform of the higher education system and mechanism, and a vivid example of comprehensive cooperative development of education between the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao.
Lu Xiaozhong, dean of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Education Development Institute at South China Normal University, believes that under the new situation and new background, mainland higher education "goes out" to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao, and it is urgent to provide guidance and regulations in terms of legal policies and formulate and issue laws and regulations. Special regulations on cooperative education in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
At present, the cooperation between universities in Hong Kong and Macao in running schools in the mainland is mainly based on and referred to the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education" promulgated and implemented in 2003.
Lu Xiaozhong pointed out that the historical background of the enactment of this regulation is quite different from the reality of the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and it does not provide clear guidance and regulations for mainland universities to operate schools in Hong Kong and Macao.
He suggested that in the context of building the Greater Bay Area International Education Demonstration Zone, it is urgent to study and formulate special laws and regulations to smoothen the cooperative school-running mechanism in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Yang Yongcong also suggested formulating special higher education cooperation regulations in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to clarify the principles and ideas for mainland universities to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao, and to provide legal guidance for mainland universities to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao.
In order to smooth the path for mainland universities to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao, what further breakthroughs should be made?
Yang Yongcong said that mainland universities will face many new situations when they set up schools in Hong Kong and Macao, but the current approval system management has policy lags.
He suggested that mainland universities should be given more autonomy to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao and explore the management of a registration system.
In addition, public universities in the Mainland are supported by government financial funds. Things such as establishing new school buildings in Hong Kong and Macao involve cost sharing, financial supervision and other aspects. This requires the education management department to take the lead in straightening out the cooperation mechanism with Hong Kong and Macao.
Nanfang Daily reporter Li Xiuting
Intern Li Zhisen