Ambitious university towns plan to test HE collaboration

Hong Kong’s ambitious plan to develop three university towns in its Northern Metropolis could help transform the city’s research and innovation ecosystem, but academics warn that its success will depend on changes to how universities are funded, governed and rewarded for collaboration.

The project aims to bring universities, research institutes and technology companies closer together, addressing longstanding obstacles to research commercialisation while strengthening connections with mainland China.

However, academics say physical proximity and shared infrastructure alone may not guarantee cooperation between institutions accustomed to competing for students, staff, research funding and international rankings.

The plans form part of the government's broader strategy to develop Hong Kong into an international hub for higher education, talent and innovation, with ambitions to attract “the world's finest scholars and students,” according to Chief Executive John Lee.

“We will invite institutions to establish basic research institutes and large-scale shared research platforms, including high-performance computing centres, joint laboratories and interdisciplinary research centres,” Lee told the Global University Presidents and Leaders Summit on 27 October.

Ambitious development plan

The university town concept first emerged in 2023 and has since expanded into three proposed developments at San Tin, Hung Shui Kiu and Ta Kwu Ling in the northern New Territories.

Under the government’s 2026 Policy Address, the three towns will cover more than 1,000 hectares, including approximately 300 hectares designated for university campuses.

Applications for the first town, in Hung Shui Kiu, are to close at the end of this year, with results due in early 2027.

The three towns each come with their distinctive positioning. San Tin will focus on medicine, life sciences, artificial intelligence, robotics and microelectronics, while Hung Shui Kiu will emphasise applied post-secondary education and smart manufacturing. Ta Kwu Ling will integrate arts, environmental development and emerging industries.

Beyond expanding higher education capacity, the initiative aims to diversify Hong Kong's economy, provide land for research and industrial development and foster closer links with neighbouring Shenzhen, a major technology and manufacturing hub in mainland China.

Bridging the research-industry gap

Taken together, the project seeks to address several longstanding challenges in Hong Kong’s knowledge exchange ecosystem, according to Professor Hugo Horta of the University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Education.

He identified three particular weaknesses, which are the “lack of manufacturing demand, the lack of physical space for scaling up and the almost lack of industry-related research and development”, he said.

Despite Hong Kong universities’ strong international research profiles, the government's development outline similarly identifies high development costs and insufficient supporting industries as obstacles to translating scientific discoveries into industrial applications.

The university towns seek to address these structural gaps by capitalising on the city’s proximity to Shenzhen's technology companies, manufacturing networks and innovation ecosystem.

Closer mainland links

Hong Kong universities have been strengthening research partnerships across the border. In the case of Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), it recently launched a joint research centre in Shenzhen in partnership with Harbin Institute of Technology in northern China, combining design and engineering expertise to support interdisciplinary research and technology transfer.

Earlier this year, PolyU inaugurated another research institute in Shenzhen's Futian district, focusing on fields including AI, robotics, smart cities and autonomous vehicles.

Professor Ka Ho Mok, newly elected president of Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, noted that mainland China already sets a good example with the success of its own university towns.

“For example, there are three top universities in the Shenzhen university town, namely, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Harbin Institute of Technology, students can enrol in general courses across universities and common faculties like canteens,” he told University World News.

Key to sustained collaboration

The university towns could foster more effective cooperation among Hong Kong universities through shared laboratories, libraries, teaching facilities and joint research programmes.

However, Horta cautioned that having shared infrastructure alone would not suffice. To achieve sustained collaboration, it would need to be complemented by both incentives and “optimal governance”, he noted.

According to Professor Weiyan Xiong of the Education University of Hong Kong, the university towns challenge a competitive culture underpinning Hong Kong’s higher education system.

That competition is partly shaped by the city’s University Grants Committee (UGC), which funds eight public universities and encourages them to develop differentiated roles and research strengths.

Its 2025 to 2028 University Accountability Agreements establish sector-wide performance measures and institution-specific indicators covering teaching, research, knowledge transfer, international engagement and financial sustainability.

While these arrangements recognise institutional diversity, Xiong argued that universities remain primarily rewarded for individual achievements rather than collective outcomes.

”Appraisal, contract renewal and promotion exercises tend to privilege individually owned grants and outputs. If a scholar who co-leads a project with colleagues at another university finds that this work counts for less at home, collaboration will remain a personal preference rather than an institutional strategy,” said Xiong.

For Hong Kong, the scholars called for strong government steering to encourage both public and private universities to pool their distinctive strengths.

A permanent intermediary governance body could also help ensure that institutional cooperation extends beyond individual research projects, with decision-making authority to participating universities and clear rules covering cost-sharing, access to facilities and intellectual property, Xiong added.

Financial sustainability

As the government moves towards the implementation of the university towns, financing has also presented another major challenge. In September, the government opened applications for three university campus sites at Hung Shui Kiu, with participating institutions expected to finance campus construction and development.

The government has earmarked HK$10 billion (US$1.275 billion) for loans to support eligible institutions, alongside land premium concessions. Universities may also draw on reserves or seek private capital, including through bond issuance.

However, such arrangements have also raised concerns about universities' ability to finance major construction projects while sustaining existing teaching and research commitments. Legislators warned that institutions would need long-term financing plans, given the scale and duration of the development.

Beyond construction costs, there are also weaknesses in existing research funding arrangements that could undermine the collaboration the project seeks to encourage.

The Research Grants Council (RGC), operating under the UGC, already supports cross-institutional research through its Collaborative Research Fund, which includes grants for joint projects, shared equipment and early-career researchers.

However, its funding rules require universities to contribute 50% of specified equipment costs under collaborative project grants, or half the total approved budget under collaborative equipment grants.

Xiong argued that the matching-funding requirements could discourage institutions from committing limited resources to projects led by other universities.

He called for dedicated funding to support shared facilities, joint academic appointments and programmes, which he believed would provide stronger incentives for sustained collaboration.

Mok identified financing as one of the project’s biggest challenges, noting that government funding alone would not be sufficient.

“The initiative would require universities, industries and other stakeholders to look beyond their individual interests and contribute to Hong Kong's longer-term development, although achieving such cooperation would be difficult,” Mok said.