Departing from hybridity: higher education development and university governance in postcolonial Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to explain the path of higher education development and governance in (post-colonial) Hong Kong in light of the concept of hybridity. The paper begins with a historical review, delineating the establishment of major universities in Hong Kong, thereby illustrating how hybridity informs the trajectory of higher education development in the city. Considering the tensions and conflicts that emerged during the post-colonial transition and underlining the influences of managerialism and political activism, the paper draws on data from interviews with university council members and student leaders to outline the issues on university governance in Hong Kong. This paper argues that the response of the Chinese central government to the social unrest in the city represents a re-Sinification process that redefines the idea of the university in postcolonial Hong Kong.

KEYWORDS:

• Hybridity
• university governance
• re-Sinification
• political culture
• Hong Kong

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Some interview data presented in this section was adapted from Lo (2021).

2 The movement known as the Occupy Central or Umbrella Movement in 2014 was initiated in pursuit of universal suffrage.

3 The Anti-Extradition Bill Movement in 2019 refers to a series of large-scale protests, of which the immediate cause was the government’s plan for changes in legislation allowing for criminal suspects to be extradited to Mainland China.

4 The Anti-Moral and National Education Movement in 2012 was a movement against the government’s proposal to teach ‘moral and national education’ as an independent subject in primary and secondary schools.

5 The Belt and Road Initiative is a strategy for strengthening China’s global connectivity by constructing infrastructure; promoting policy exchange, financial integration, free trade and people-to-people bonds; and developing a network of key cities along the historical Silk Road. The Greater Bay Area Scheme, which includes Hong Kong, Macao and nine cities in Guangdong Province in Southern China, aims to promote the integration of industries, academia and research and encourage cross-border HE and research collaboration in the area.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee, Hong Kong [Project No. 18606017], Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China [Project No. SR2020.A5.015].