The Senate of Hong Kong Baptist University approved a merger plan for the arts and social science faculties by a majority vote.

The approval came after a three-hour meeting at Shaw Tower in the university's Kowloon Tong campus yesterday afternoon. The merger is still awaiting the green light of the HKBU governing council. Once approved, it will be implemented starting July 1. Under the proposed plan, the 12 departments of the two faculties will be restructured into four divisions.

The Language Centre under the Faculty of Arts will become its own department in a separate proposal.

HKBU reaffirmed that affected departments will still retain their name and status. Resources and number of staff will also remain the same.

The merger, if approved, will be a big leap forward for the university in fostering interdisciplinary education and research, HKBU said.

A merger task force has held eight meetings and over 40 consultation sessions since last April polling students, teachers and relevant stakeholders.

Most HKBU students and staff opposed the merger plan, according to a survey done by the HKBU Project HAS Concern Group.

Students also said they felt confused about the merger, including third-year Faculty of Arts student Liu, who switched majors from social sciences last year.

She worries it would be unfair for some students as the two faculties have different admission scores.

"Admission requirements for the two faculties are quite different and complicated. I [am] worried the merger may confuse freshmen," she said.

Tiffany, a fifth-year English student, told The Standard she is opposed the merger. "I feel that the Faculty of Arts is one of the major parts of the university and it should remain independent. The university should instead [give] more resources to the faculty," she said.

Before the Senate meeting at 2.30pm yesterday, those opposed to the merger held a 30-minute silent protest outside Shaw Tower.

The opposition group conducted an online questionnaire in November last year. Among over 700 effective responses, over 87 percent opposed the merger plan, with one reason being that the university failed to answer students' concerns about the operations of the four divisions.

One member, Tai Ka-ping, said the university should have explained the merger plan more clearly.

"Our group is not opposing [the merger] for no reason. We have been open-minded. We hoped [the school] could explain the reasons behind the merger," Tai said.

The group sent an open letter to Senate members on Sunday, but no replies were received as of yesterday, he added.

The opposition group scheduled a consultation session on campus last Thursday, but was told by the university that it had been canceled as it "involves the participation of external parties."

Most students and staff oppose the merger plan.

Baptist U senate votes to merge arts and social science faculties