New UM rector assumes office

Yonghua Song

Yonghua Song, a scholar in electrical engineering, assumed office as the rector of the University of Macau (UM) yesterday – becoming the ninth rector of the university.

The new rector has expressed his hope to familiarize himself with the job as soon as possible with a view to increasing interactions with the local community and carrying out more innovative projects.

Song met with members of the management team of the university to learn more about the university’s operation on his first day, according to a statement from UM.

In the same statement, Song expressed his hope to meet with more members of the university in the next few months and to hear their expectations about the university’s future development.

“With the solid foundation laid for the university, we will continue to do our job well through collective efforts and we look forward to more innovation, new opportunities and greater accomplishments,” Song said in an email to the faculty, staff members, students and alumni.

Song has been an appointed advisor to the Science and Technology Committee of the MSAR since 2002.

Meanwhile, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, has not announced any updates regarding the progress of the investigation of the university’s former rector Wei Zhao – information that Tam said would be announced once the investigation has been concluded.

Wei Zhao

In November, Tam had asked the Tertiary Education Services Office (GAES) to investigate the terms of Zhao’s contract.

On January 1, Zhao assumed as the role of a Chief Research Officer at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates – a day after his resignation had taken effect.

As previously reported, an anonymous complaint alerted the UM that Zhao would be in breach of his contract with UM, as it has a clause that requires a cooling off period – an allegation that the university denied.

In a statement, UM explained that Zhao submitted his resignation to the Chief Executive in accordance with established procedures and obtained his approval, and that there are no requirements for a ‘cooling-off period’.

The Times contacted the office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture but was directed to contact the university instead. The GAES was also contacted, replying that it “is still handling this [Zhao’s case] with established procedures, with no information to be provided at the moment.”

HKU chief admits to pressure from Beijing

THE OUTGOING vice chancellor of Hong Kong University, Peter Mathieson, has admitted that his executive post was filled with “pressure from everybody,” adding that he was also receiving advice “all the time” by Beijing’s liaison office. In an interview to South China Morning Post, the professor called on the region’s leading university to continue its international approach rather than exclusively focusing on its ties with mainland China. “They can tell me what they think I should do, but basically I do what I believe to be in the best interests of the university. […] Yes, there has been pressure, but I don’t regard that as unreasonable,” he told the Post. “I wish higher education was not so politicized,” he said. “I think it would be simpler for people like me if politics wasn’t such a complicating factor.” Mathieson, who will take up the post of Vice Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, admitted that there was no initiative from Professor Arthur Li Kwok-Cheung, a pro-establishment politician who also chairs HKU’s governing body, on discussing what would follow the end of his five-year contract in 2019. Professor Zhang Xiang, a mainland-born mechanical engineering expert at the University of California, Berkeley in the United States, will succeed Mathieson’s post.