Occupy Central
Occupy Central is a civil disobedience movement which began in Hong Kong on September 28, 2014. It calls on thousands of protesters to block roads and paralyse Hong Kong's financial district if the Beijing and Hong Kong governments do not agree to implement universal suffrage for the chief executive election in 2017 and the Legislative Council elections in 2020 according to "international standards." The movement was initiated by Benny Tai Yiu-ting (戴耀廷), an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, in January 2013.
Umbrella Movement
The Umbrella Movement (Chinese: 雨傘運動; pinyin: yǔsǎn yùndòng) is a loose political movement that was created spontaneously during the Hong Kong protests of 2014. Its name derives from the recognition of the umbrella as a symbol of defiance and resistance against the Hong Kong government, and the united grass-roots objection to the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) of 31 August.
The movement consists of individuals numbering in the tens of thousands who participated in the protests that began on 28 September 2014, although Scholarism, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Occupy Central with Love and Peace, groups are principally driving the demands for the rescission of the NPCSC decision.
The movement consists of individuals numbering in the tens of thousands who participated in the protests that began on 28 September 2014, although Scholarism, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Occupy Central with Love and Peace, groups are principally driving the demands for the rescission of the NPCSC decision.
POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 123:
Full coverage of the day’s events on 17-04
Pictured: Peter Mathieson, president and vice-chancellor of HKU. Photo: Felix Wong
HKU head defends plan to enforce mandatory student visits to mainland China
By Stuart Lau
The University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) vice-chancellor has broken his silence on a controversial plan to make mainland exchange programmes compulsory for its students, insisting this would help them build up a “truly global perspective”.
In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, Professor Peter Mathieson, also the school’s president, admitted for the first time that the proposal had been submitted to the University Grants Committee (UGC), but emphasised that the plan was not a requirement imposed by the body which controls government funds.
HKU drew ire from its student body after it announced the idea for students to go on compulsory exchange programmes – one in mainland China and one overseas – by 2022. Pro-vice-chancellor Professor Ian Holliday reportedly told students in a closed-door dinner last week: “If you don’t want to go to mainland China, don’t come to HKU.”
Critics have speculated that the controversial move could be a result of pressure from the UGC – a claim Mathieson denied.
“This is a matter of internal policy development and nothing to do with UGC requirements, although we have incorporated details in our recent ADP, academic development plan, which we have submitted to UGC,” said Mathieson.
“We confidently believe that such opportunities will enhance the ‘whole person development’ which we aim to provide for all HKU students.”
The University Grants Committee is currently made up of local and foreign academics, businessmen and an Executive Council member.
Asked about Holliday’s remark, Mathieson said: “We will continue to make HKU’s strategic plans public so that prospective students will know in advance the types of opportunities that will be available to HKU students.
“Clearly, enrolment in any university includes an element of choice for applicants: we want all prospective applicants to know about HKU’s policies and expectations so that they can decide whether it suits their needs or not.”
Opportunities for immersion in the mainland and elsewhere would allow students to spend “meaningful amounts of time outside Hong Kong”, helping them to develop what he calls a “truly global perspective” in the modern global economy.
“These [developmental] opportunities [for students] may be anywhere in the world, but obviously in view of our geopolitical situation, mainland China will be one target area,” Mathieson told the Post.
“There will be ample opportunity for students to feed into the plans and for students to have a say in the type of experience from which they would benefit the most,” he said.
He said exemptions from mainland trips “will be possible where justified” but HKU’s leadership “believes in the general principle of offering all of our students opportunities to live and work outside Hong Kong during their studies”.
As to why it would take eight years to implement the scheme, Mathieson says there are complexities in scheduling the time table, funding and the selection of appropriate sites for the trips.
The two other top universities in Hong Kong – Chinese University and the University of Science and Technology – have said they had no similar plans for mandatory exchange programmes.
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