The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government on Tuesday gave the nod for the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to set up the SAR’s third medical school, with the first batch of 50 medical students to be admitted in 2028.
Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said the university’s proposal, approved by the chief executive and the Executive Council, is of a clear strategic positioning and a broad global perspective.
The HKUST and the government will split the cost of building the school, as well as operating expenses, for the next 25 years, with the university fully sponsoring HK$2 billion ($256 million) to build the school complex building in Clearwater Bay, Sai Kung District.
The first batch of 50 students is expected to graduate in 2032.
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Lo said he hoped the new medical facility can foster synergistic innovation with Hong Kong’s existing two medical schools, thereby creating a cumulative effect to further enhance the standard of medical research and education in the long term, and advancing the goal of making the city an international health and medical innovation hub.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu proposed in his Policy Address last year that, besides increasing training places from the existing two medical schools, the government supports the plan by local universities to establish a third medical school.
The government will set aside sites at Ngau Tam Mei, within the innovation and technology zone of the Northern Metropolis, to develop the new medical school campus and build an integrated medical teaching and research hospital.
