$145,000 UGC top post up for grabs
The University Grants Committee will have a new secretary-general in May with the departure of Peter Cheung Po-tak who oversaw the higher education review launched in 2001 and completed last year.
Mr Cheung, a former deputy home affairs secretary, took up the contract post in the funding body in 2000, replacing Nigel French, who had held the job since 1988. An advertisement for the secretary-general post was placed in the South China Morning Post last weekend. The successful applicant will take up the duties from May, when Mr Cheung's contract expires.
The secretary-general provides advice to the government on matters related to university funding, development of tertiary education and implementation of reform measures in the higher education sector.
It is the first time the job, which carries a monthly salary of $145,665 before the pending wage cut for civil servants, has been open to people from outside the civil service. The advert said the post required someone with knowledge of administration of local and overseas tertiary institutions.
Lingnan University's vice-president Nyaw Mee-kau said the higher reform period was a crucial one for the UGC.
'It is better to have as little change in the organisation as possible during this critical period of reform,'' he said.
