HKUST sharpens its case for third med school

Ayra Wang

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is polishing its proposal for establishing the third medical school ahead of the SAR administration's deadline on March 17, president Nancy Ip Yuk-yu said.

HKUST also plans to recruit another 100 teaching staff from global institutions.

Ip said yesterday the university aims to assist in building Hong Kong into an international hub for post-secondary education, innovation and technology, as well as health and medical innovation.

"Hong Kong is facing an aging population, like other developed countries and regions worldwide, and the city needs to promote the transformation of biomedical research as well as gather international talents to establish itself as a medical innovation center," she said.

The university launched a master of science program in drug regulatory affairs and policy in September and has taken in 40 students and eight Department of Health staff in its first batch to train them in international regulatory systems and policies.

Ip said the university will set up a future medicine artificial intelligence center with Fudan University in Shanghai and the Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Center next year.

An eight-story high-performance data processing center is under construction in its Clear Water Bay campus, which is to be finished by the end of next year.

The university submitted several project proposals last year in the second round of applications under the administration's HK$10 billion Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme, covering new materials, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, medicine and bioscience.