Many in the two universities felt they had little say in the selection, which was limited to only one candidate.

The student unions of the universities have asked the authorities to improve the selection process - they want consultations to be held on campus and a reasonable period between the consultations and the time the university council makes its decision.

The students said they only got to know their respective candidates when the universities made announcements.

The unions said the election process is "very opaque," pointing out that many overseas universities have open elections.

They said the least the authorities can do is arrange for several candidates to meet with students and then let the university councils consider them.

A friend at City University said it tried something new in the past by having two candidates meet with staff and students.

The staff and students asked "very sharp questions" and the two candidates complained they were "stabbed in the back" many times.

It caused a split in the university and finally both candidates failed.

Other universities learned from this episode and other instances, and now recommend only one candidate for the post of president to staff, students and the council.

Newly appointed Baptist University president Albert Chan Sun-chi told students that he was in the election team of a university presidential candidate when he was teaching in Taiwan.

In Japan, meanwhile, the staff vote for a new university head.

But the process creates animosity with different parties insisting their candidate should have won. So the university remains divided.

Though the election process at the Hong Kong colleges has been criticized, there are some good points.

For example, both the Chinese University and Baptist University have focus groups to collect opinions and select a president accordingly.

Baptist University also has a website with regular updates on the selection process.

Chinese University also arranged a three-week cooling-off period for on-campus discussions and consultations after the university council approved Joseph Sung Jao-yiu as the only candidate.

In both cases, students asked for greater involvement in the election process.

But the fact is that, apart from activists and the unions, many students today do not care much about university administration.

Some do not not even know who their university president is.

If students want to fight for a chance to participate in elections for university president, they must show their maturity and responsibility by caring about everything that happens in their institutions.

When they are able to convince the authorities that they are capable of doing so, they will gradually have more involvement in the election process.