Hong Kong authorities have met with three universities competing to establish the city’s third medical school, with a minister co-chairing the task force pledging its assessments will be completed by the end of the year.
Members of the government’s Task Group on New Medical School met with representatives from Baptist University, Polytechnic University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to learn more about the institutions’ submissions for the scheme.
Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said the task group’s expert advisers and representatives from the relevant policy bureaus had heard more about each proposal’s preparatory work and resource plans during the exchanges.
The topic also covered the universities’ plans to collaborate with local and non-local partners and how the institutions would allocate resources, he said.
“The task group will enhance speed and efficiency in the next phase of work, adopting a holistic and integrated approach to assess the proposals, with a view to completing the assessments within this year and recommending to the government the option that best supports the development of Hong Kong into an international medical training, research and innovation hub,” he said.
Education minister Christine Choi Yuk-lin also said the government expected the new medical school to strengthen Hong Kong’s global competitiveness, in addition to actively collaborating with the rest of the Greater Bay Area by using its strategic location in the planned Northern Metropolis University Town.