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Written by: Yang Yingwei
2021-05-19 08:03
Last update date: 2021-05-19 08:03
"The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (referring to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) was the only place where chips can be made in China 30 years ago... But today, Hong Kong has missed the opportunity. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), which is expected to officially open in September next year ( Ni Mingxuan, the founding principal of the University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) hereinafter, feels nostalgic for Hong Kong’s past advantages in innovation and technology and the current backwardness in innovation and technology. It can mobilize the two-way flow of resources in the region and rebuild an international scientific and technological innovation center.
Ni Mingxuan, founding principal of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), believes that Hong Kong has limited resources for the development of technological innovation. The branch campus can mobilize the two-way flow of resources in the region and rebuild an international technological innovation center.
(Photo by Ou Jiale)
Hong Kong school development is limited by land, the
Greater Bay Area is an opportunity
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) was founded in 1991. At that time, there were only two research universities in Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
"Hong Kong children have too few opportunities to go to university, only one or two percent." Ni Mingxuan recalled, "The establishment of the University of Science and Technology at that time attracted a group of experts who mainly returned from the United States. As far as I know, most of these experts are patriots. After participating in the Diaoyu Islands protection movement, they returned to the motherland with a heart to build a university of the future."
Compared with other universities in Hong Kong, HKUST is younger, but its school performance is not bad.
In the 2021 QS World University Rankings, the University of Science and Technology ranked 27th, second only to the University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong; but below the ranking, Ni Mingxuan, the vice president at the time, also found that the school faces deeper challenges.
"Universities are responsible for society and the country." Ni Mingxuan questioned, "The country has special social needs. Can we do some corresponding research to meet the challenges of social needs?"
However, the problem of inefficient land use restricts the development of all aspects of Hong Kong, and even the most proud universities in Hong Kong cannot escape the curse.
"It is undeniable that Hong Kong is very expensive. Our school has almost the same space for building a building." Ni Mingxuan continued, "We still have a lot of things we want to do and we have no chance to do it. We want to hire more. There are many teachers, but offices, laboratories, and dormitories are also limited by space."
To break land restrictions, "The Greater Bay Area is an opportunity for HKUST." Ni Mingxuan pointed out that as early as March 2017, the mayor of Guangzhou visited the University of Science and Technology and invited the University of Science and Technology to establish a branch in Guangzhou.
The University of Science and Technology decided to "get out of this step" after a multi-level meeting of the whole school, and then proceeded in full swing.
One week after obtaining the approval of the Ministry of Education, the school facilitated the construction of the Nansha campus in Guangzhou to hold a groundbreaking ceremony. Construction will officially start in mid-2020, and the school is expected to officially open in September 2022.
"The entire campus has 55 buildings, 530,000 square meters, and all must be completed within 570 days." Ni Mingxuan said about the rocket speed of the Guangzhou campus, "24 hours of different shifts (shifts) are under construction... this It is called "Project One" in Guangzhou." Ni also emphasized that although the construction speed is fast, the quality of the project will be guaranteed. The school has also arranged 100 quality control personnel to check the whole process.
With the attention of "Project One", the Guangzhou government and the Nansha District government have given strong financial support to the University of Science and Technology: construction land fees for land acquisition and demolition, the first phase of the campus construction investment, 2019-22 operating expenses and pre-school decoration The mainland government is responsible for all the equipment costs, and the estimated investment is not less than 30 billion yuan.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is expected to open a branch campus in Guangzhou next September.
(Profile picture)
Attract reverse brain drain
resources flow in both directions
Of course, the University of Science and Technology chose to run schools in cities in the Greater Bay Area not only because of financial and land incentives, but also because of the "science and innovation ecological environment."
"I have come to HKUST for 20 years, and I have seen many outstanding graduates, but not many have stayed in Hong Kong." According to Ni Ming's election, some students became teachers and professors, but the positions in Hong Kong universities are limited, and most of them go overseas; Aspiring innovative entrepreneurs go to the Mainland, "because our conditions are not good enough. Innovation and entrepreneurship does not mean how smart the technology is, but the ecological environment, upstream and downstream cooperation... The development of the Mainland, including Shenzhen, is very Fast, Hong Kong is basically slower, so its ecological environment is getting better and better. Including my own students, all entrepreneurs go to the other side (referring to Shenzhen). That policy is great."
Ni Mingxuan lamented that in the past, Hong Kong universities did a good job of basic research. "But what is basic research? Spend money on equipment and hire people." But when it comes to scientific research output, "the part that makes money goes elsewhere." Are we a bit at a loss?" He had to ask, "If the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is to develop an international technological innovation center, how should Hong Kong integrate into it and what role should it play?
"This role should not be one-way, I hope it is two-way." Ni Mingxuan pointed out that Hong Kong has legal and tax advantages, which can attract technology companies to Hong Kong to set up branch headquarters, but Hong Kong must solve the problem of "living". It is not easy for an engineer to buy a house. Hong Kong must do a better job in supporting the "living" talent.
"
At the same time, the establishment of the Guangzhou campus of HKUST can interact well with the Clearwater Bay campus of HKUST, and it has also formed a "two-way flow" of resources.
Taking teaching talents as an example, Ni Mingxuan said that universities in Hong Kong and universities in the Mainland are "digging" teachers from the University of Science and Technology, but the establishment of the Guangzhou campus has made some teachers who intend to return to the Mainland to "stay": "I said, You don’t want to go to the mainland. The Guangzhou campus is waiting for you. Several of them are like this! I don’t have a Guangzhou campus, so I was really poached away. It was Guangzhou (campus) who kept him.” Ni Geng added that some professors who have gone to teach in universities in the Greater Bay Area also intend to return to HKUST, "I think the culture of HKUST is more suitable for him."
Ni Mingxuan emphasized that HKUST (Guangzhou) "will not hollow out Hong Kong", "it is recruiting teachers every day", and this is also one of the challenges facing the establishment of the campus. "The goal for the first phase is 400 teachers."
Hong Kong has scientific research advantages and should conform to the national strategy to cultivate more high-end research talents.
(Information Picture/Photographed by Lu Yiming)
Fit the national strategy to
cultivate high-end research talents
HKUST (Guangzhou) expects to recruit students in two phases. The first phase will only recruit 4,000 graduate students, and the second phase will expand to 4,000 undergraduates and 6,000 graduate students. The tuition and student subsidies are the same as those of HKUST.
Although the two universities belong to the "Hong Kong University of Science and Technology" brand, they are financially independent, and the legal persons of the two universities are also independent of each other. The status of the two universities is equal.
Regarding the arrangement of focusing on the training of "graduate students" in the early stage, Ni Mingxuan explained that the academic structure of HKUST (Guangzhou) does not overlap with HKUST. The Guangzhou campus has innovatively introduced an "interdisciplinary" academic structure. Mainly graduate students, "because graduate students have already had the foundation and cornerstone of interdisciplinary studies in university studies in the past."
What is the difference between so-called interdisciplinary subjects and traditional subjects?
Ni Ming’s election example explained that the University of Science and Technology has a computer science department, and the University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) will not do it anymore. Instead, it will do “artificial intelligence” and “data science”. It will not be repeated."
The two majors mentioned above will be placed in the "information hub" of the University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou). In addition, there are four "hubs" in total: "function", "system" and "society".
HKUST (Guangzhou) hopes to use the "hub/academic domain" to break the past "college/department" relationship and promote the "intersection" and even "integration" of disciplines.
(Provided by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)
HKUST features "Go ahead" and
"Interdisciplinary" to solve problems
Let us take another example to understand the academic structure of "hub".
Earlier, the University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) has launched a pilot program for enrollment, enrolling 106 people in 2019 and 160 in 2020.
Student Wu is one of the master students in the data science field of the pilot program in 2020. She told "Hong Kong 01" that interdisciplinary education is one of the more attractive points of the University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou): "The student union of every Guangzhou campus There are two tutors, and these two tutors will come from different majors. My second tutor will also participate in my topic discussions.” For example, Mr. Wu, her two tutors are in the direction of operations research and transportation engineering. Focusing on the former, operations research is related to mathematics and industry, and the instructor of the Department of Transportation Engineering has made great achievements in mathematical models and can provide guidance for the subject.
"Interdisciplinary can solve practical problems, and interdisciplinary requires cooperation in different fields." Ni Mingxuan metaphors, "A hub is like an airport, people come and go (people come and go), different people come to communicate and go to different places. Cooperation between academic domains.” He also emphasized that academic domains will be set up or downsized in response to social needs, so as to quickly "solve social needs" and quickly cultivate "high-tech talents needed by the country."
The “Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China and the Outline of Long-Term Goals for 2035” (the “Fourteenth Five-Year Plan”) officially adopted by the National “Two Sessions” lists seven technological frontiers that China will focus on. Fields: Next-generation artificial intelligence, quantum information, integrated circuits, brain science and brain-like research, genetics and biotechnology, clinical medicine and health, deep space, deep sea and polar exploration.
Among them, "integrated circuits," or "chips," are currently pivotal "technological products" in the game between major powers. It is also a "stuck neck" problem that China urgently needs to solve.
In response to this, HKUST (Guangzhou) has also set up a "microelectronics" academic field under the "functional hub" to respond to the demand for talents in technological development.
In addition, academic fields such as "advanced materials", "earth and marine atmospheric sciences", and "life sciences and biomedical engineering" are also responding to the needs of cutting-edge technology at the national level.
"Can we do it to solve some problems that could not be solved in the past? I think there is a frontier (exploration) for everything here. So we should encourage our teachers not to only look at the current problems, but to look forward. More imagination.” Ni Mingxuan said, “'Go ahead', this is the characteristic of HKUST.”
Innovation and Technology of the Greater Bay Area University of Science and Technology