Beijing’s point man on Hong Kong affairs held discussions with the heads of several universities in the city on Thursday, in the first publicly known meeting with leaders of local tertiary institutions.
Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, also met politicians and was expected to visit other parts of the city on the third day of his fact-finding visit.
His discussions with the heads of the institutions came on the heels of six publicly funded universities climbing the ranks of an influential league table produced by education information firm Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) rose to 11th place, surpassing two prestigious tertiary education institutions in mainland China.
The meeting, held at government headquarters, ran for nearly three hours, with attendees including Xiang Zhang from HKU, Nancy Ip Yuk-yu from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Dennis Lo Yuk-ming from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).
Polytechnic University’s (PolyU) Teng Jin-guang, City University’s Freddy Boey Yin-chiang and Education University’s John Lee Chi-kin also attended.