Hong Kong authorities and HKUST deny claim of winning bid for new medical school

The Hong Kong government and a university have denied a claim made by a major private education chain that the tertiary institution had won the bidding process to operate the city’s third medical school, calling the statement groundless.

They weighed in on Monday after Beacon College posted a clip to social media saying that “reliable sources” had indicated authorities would announce in the policy address on September 17 that the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) had been selected to establish the school.

Beacon College co-founder June Leung Ho-ki also said in the clip that the medical school would offer 3,000 hospital beds.

The three-minute video showed scenes of her meeting university president Nancy Ip Yuk-yu and vice-president Charles Ng Wang-wai at a past event.

She said the new school would welcome students from all undergraduate backgrounds, regardless of their prior field of study.

Leung claimed that Ng had said that even students who graduated from music programmes would be eligible to apply to HKUST’s medical school.