The head of Hong Kong’s oldest university has said he hopes any funding cut by the government in the coming budget will be “moderate”, stressing the institution’s reserves of HK$41.5 billion (US$5.3 billion) had designated purposes.
University of Hong Kong president Xiang Zhang also said on Friday all new undergraduates would be required to take an artificial intelligence (AI) course as part of their curriculum.
“We hope that the government’s financial cuts to higher education will be moderate so we can survive,” he said.
Billion of dollars of the reserves had also been earmarked for constructing more than 10 buildings on campus, while funds were also lined up for professorships, he added.
The university has the largest stockpile of funds among the city’s eight public universities, but Zhang noted they took a century to accumulate.
“If you take the base out … we’re falling apart,” he said.
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