HKUST to operate Hong Kong’s third medical school after 8-month race: source

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has been selected to run the city’s third medical school, the Post has learned, ending an eight-month race among three major tertiary institutions.

A source said on Tuesday that HKUST had won the race after a group of experts assessed proposals submitted in March by the institution, Baptist University and Polytechnic University.

Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau and education minister Christine Choi Yuk-lin will meet the press in the afternoon to update on the latest progress in establishing the new medical school.

In his policy address last year, city leader John Lee Ka-chiu said the third medical school was expected to employ “innovative strategic positioning” that could complement the existing two, operated by the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).

The new school should also help address a chronic manpower crunch in the sector by increasing the number of doctors and supporting the city’s goal of becoming an international hub for health and medical innovation.

The group of experts tasked with examining the proposals included health and education ministers, as well as ex-CUHK president Professor Joseph Sung Jao-yiu, Medical Council chairwoman Professor Grace Tang Wai-king and former HKU president Professor Tsui Lap-chee.