Exclusive | University of Hong Kong management ‘misled’ donor over 10 million yuan, internal report claims
Management at Hong Kong’s top university misled a mainland Chinese donor that had given 8.5 million yuan (US$1.17 million) for scholarships, forcing the school to apologise and lose an additional instalment of the endowment, an internal report seen by the Post alleges.
The confidential information was contained in an email sent to more than 400 staff members at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) on Friday and signed the “Whistleblowers”. They called for a group, set up by the government and already examining strained relations between university president Xiang Zhang and governing council chairwoman Priscilla Wong Pui-sze, to investigate the handling of the donation.
Zhang was accused of mismanagement in September last year in emails signed the same way and sent to members of the council. A panel set up by the body eventually issued a report clearing the president, but a chapter of that finding was leaked in the latest email.
It said HKU management was guilty of “egregious failures” over its handling of a 10 million yuan donation from the mainland-listed company, the largest the school had received from over the border.
Representatives of the donor, widely reported as the Ninestar Corporation, which makes printers, met Zhang and HKU chief of staff Isabella Wong in September 2021 to suggest the money be used for scholarships.
The gift comprised a first instalment of 8.5 million yuan, received by the university through a registered charitable organisation as an intermediary due to foreign-exchange controls on the mainland, and a second instalment of 1.5 million yuan.
In July 2022, the President’s Office sent the intermediary a list of 49 eligible mainland students, who would be admitted in the 2022-23 academic year for its approval, according to the report. But the probe found no one on the list received money from the endowment.
The report said 32 of the 49 students were admitted through other scholarships schemes, while the remaining 17 had not been enrolled in the university.
When asked by the intermediary for the names of the students eligible for the new scholarship in November 2022, the administrative assistant of the President’s Office sent over the same list, which was eventually attached to the donation agreement signed by both sides the following month.
“The above failures not only kept the intermediary in the dark … but also provided the intermediary with false and misleading information that funds had been distributed to the 49 students,” the report said, adding the handling of the donation was not in line with prescribed policies.
In August 2023, staff at the President’s Office told the intermediary the donation had been “fully distributed to students” and supplied the outdated list of recipients, as well as samples of award letter and reply slips.
That September, anonymous emails putting Zhang in the cross hairs emerged and the circumstances of the donations were revealed, leading HKU to issue a letter of apology to the benefactor.
It proposed offering scholarships to 21 students the following year, but the suggestion was rejected by the intermediary, which called the idea “unacceptable”. HKU also lost the second instalment of the promised donation, according to the report.
Zhang claimed in the report that he only became aware of the list after the anonymous emails were sent, but admitted he should ultimately be held responsible for when things went wrong.
The president said he was “under the impression” the list was updated before signing the agreement but that he did not review it.
The finding also revealed a discussion took place in the President’s Office over whether it should place the 10 million yuan donation in HKU’s Strategic Development Fund, which the office oversaw.
But the assistant director of the finance office expressed doubt as to whether the move would meet compliance requirements and if it might lead to the money being used in a manner conflicting with the donor’s intention.
The sender of Friday’s email called on the “investigation and study group” set up by the government to clarify facts and suggest solutions surrounding the escalating conflict between Zhang and Wong to look into the matter.
“We earnestly hope that the … [investigation and study group] will conduct a series of rigorous investigations of the facts, in order to uncover the veritable truth of the matter,” they said.
A spokesman for the Education Bureau said the investigation and study group had started its work, such as meeting relevant figures, clarifying facts, facilitating its internal communication and strengthening collaboration among different parties.
HKU has been contacted for comment.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu recently said vacancies left unfilled for long periods and frequent staff changes in senior management roles at the city’s oldest university over the past few years were “not ideal”.
