LCQ 2: Access control measures on university campuses
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Question:
At present, a number of universities funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC) have implemented campus access control and reservation systems and have not fully opened their campuses to public use. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has compiled statistics on and grasped the specific arrangements made by various universities for opening their campuses and public facilities to the public and the relevant restrictions over the past five years; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(2) whether it has assessed the impact of universities' prolonged implementation of campus access control on community integration, the promotion of campus culture and maximising the effectiveness of public resources, and whether it has drawn on the experience of Chinese Mainland or overseas universities in opening their campuses to the public (such as the reservation and registration systems implemented by Peking University and Tsinghua University) to formulate measures for fostering connections between local universities and the community; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(3) whether it will consider co-ordinating various universities through the UGC or the relevant policy bureaux in formulating uniform and flexible guidelines on opening their campuses to the public on the premise of balancing campus security, the orderly conduct of teaching activities and the sharing of public resources, with a view to enabling members of the public and community groups to use the relevant facilities; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Academic freedom and institutional autonomy are the cornerstones of the success of Hong Kong's higher education sector. All eight University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded universities are statutory bodies governed by their respective ordinances and statutes setting out their objectives, functions and governance structures. The ordinances empower the universities to exercise powers and freedoms necessary to fulfil their objectives and functions. At the same time, the universities are responsible to maintain transparency, public accountability and good governance in their operations, so as to ensure that public money is put to appropriate use.
Our consolidated reply to the questions raised by the Hon Dominic Lee is set out below:
Campus management and the use of facilities fall within the purview of institutional autonomy. Each university formulates and adjusts its own arrangements having regard to its campus location, size, layout, security risks and teaching and research needs. Over the years, university campuses have by and large followed an open campus policy. After 2019, the universities enhanced their on-campus security arrangements in the light of actual needs and employed additional security staff. Some institutions also implemented access control measures for entering and leaving the campus. These include, for example, requiring staff members, students and invited visitors to present their identity documents or register before entering the campus. Individual institutions had also engaged professional security consultants to review their security facilities, manpower and arrangements.
With Hong Kong moving from stability to prosperity and getting back on track, each UGC-funded university may consider for itself whether to open some of its on-campus facilities to the public, and ensure such arrangements do not affect its teaching and related activities and comply with relevant legislation. The universities are also responsible for taking appropriate security measures in the light of actual circumstances to ensure that their campuses remain safe and conducive to teaching and research activities, while striving to minimise the impact of these measures on the normal operations of the universities.
The Education Bureau (EDB) and the UGC do not keep regular statistics on how the UGC-funded universities open their campuses and public facilities. However, the UGC has maintained close contact with the UGC-funded universities to keep abreast of their latest developments. According to the information provided by the universities, they have gradually relaxed their campus entry arrangements in recent years in view of the social situation. Campuses of Hong Kong Baptist University, Lingnan University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology are now opened to the public. City University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Education University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the University of Hong Kong have implemented access control measures to varying degrees, such as installing automatic turnstiles for students and staff, and requiring visitors to register online in advance, in order to meet their operational needs.
Universities are closely connected with society. Maintaining good ties with the community helps promote campus culture, facilitate knowledge transfer and foster community integration, and forms part of the universities' social responsibility. Indeed, the universities have all along been actively strengthening their engagement with the community through various means, including organising a range of activities and opening up selected campus facilities and resources. Specific examples include:
1. allowing members of the public to apply for library reader cards or visitor passes;
2. opening museums, art galleries and exhibition halls free of charge;
3. organising public lectures, cultural and arts performances, information days and guided tours;
4. leasing sports facilities, lecture theatres, etc, to community groups and schools, provided this does not affect the use by staff and students;
5. implementing various knowledge transfer and community service schemes; and
6. collaborating with primary and secondary schools and other organisations to organise a range of activities, such as experience camps, public education events, etc.
We note that universities in the Chinese Mainland and overseas also adopt different models of campus opening arrangements in the light of their respective campus environments, regulatory frameworks and social circumstances. In the Chinese Mainland, for example, institutions such as Peking University and Tsinghua University have in recent years introduced online advance booking systems, allowing members of the public to book visits during designated time slots and opening their campuses under orderly management. Some overseas universities decide their campus opening arrangements as circumstances require. For instance, colleges of the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge set their own opening hours; and may not be opened during the examination season. This illustrates that, with suitable registration and management arrangements, universities can strike a balance between campus security and openness to the public.
Given the considerable differences among the universities in terms of campus location, size, number of students and staff, layout and security needs, the imposition of uniform campus opening guidelines could undermine the flexibility of institutions to manage their campuses in the light of actual circumstances. The universities are responsible for ensuring campus safety and the proper order of teaching and research, so that staff and students can study and work in a safe and orderly environment. We believe that, in formulating and reviewing the relevant measures, each university will take into account various factors and strike an appropriate balance between campus security, the order of teaching and research, and the opening up of public resources according to its own circumstances.
On the premise of ensuring safety, the EDB and the UGC expect the universities to make good use of publicly funded facilities, to keep under review their campus opening and facility hiring arrangements and, where feasible, to further facilitate the use of the relevant facilities by members of the public and community groups; and to enhance the transparency of their arrangements, for example, by clearly publishing on their websites the campus entry arrangements, opening hours, booking procedures and the facilities available for hire. We will continue to maintain communication with the universities to exchange good practices on these arrangements, to ensure that they operate in the best interests of students and society as a whole.
Thank you, President.
Ends/Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Issued at HKT 14:10
Issued at HKT 14:10
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