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The Education Bureau (EDB) announced today (July 11) that the ex-Victoria Road Detention Centre site (the Site) at Mount Davis would be allocated to the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth) for the development of a self-financing tertiary institution.
On the recommendation of an independent Vetting Committee, the Secretary for Education has decided that Chicago Booth should be earmarked as the prospective operator for the Site to be granted at nominal premium.
Chicago Booth is consistently recognised as one of the best business schools in the world. Currently, it has operations in Chicago, London and Singapore. Chicago Booth plans to establish a presence in Hong Kong and offer its flagship Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) programme taught exclusively by the world-class faculty of Chicago Booth. It also plans to offer a variety of executive education courses.
"The University of Chicago is widely recognised as an ardent advocate for a market system. We welcome Chicago Booth to provide business education in Hong Kong. With its outstanding faculty and alumni network, Chicago Booth will be able to provide an environment that would help enhance the intellectual capital of the executives in our region," said the Financial Secretary, Mr John C Tsang.
"The establishment of a campus of Chicago Booth in Hong Kong will enhance Hong Kong's position as a regional education hub, nurture talent to support the growth of our economy and strengthen Hong Kong's competitiveness," the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim said.
"The allocation of the Site also demonstrates the Government's strong commitment to supporting the internationalisation and diversification of the self-financing post-secondary education sector," he said.
The Government invited applications on February 19, 2013 from non-profit-making education institutions to operate self-financing full-time locally-accredited degree programmes at the Site under the Land Grant Scheme. At the close of application on May 3, 2013, two applications were received.
The Vetting Committee, comprising nine non-officials (including the Chairman) and one official member, made the recommendation after detailed examination of the applicants' education development and site development proposals. The process is fair and competitive and only application with the highest quality would be selected.
Ends/Thursday, July 11, 2013
Issued at HKT 09:30
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