Hong Kong’s eight public universities have promised to return more recurrent funding allocated to them if asked by the government within the next three academic years and to follow Beijing’s guidance.

In new documents signed with their funding body, the universities also agreed that the government had the right to reduce the amount of their regular allocation if they failed to meet their commitments or had any major deficiency in institutional governance.

The University Grants Committee (UGC), a government advisory body that allocates funding for higher education institutions, uploaded the university accountability agreements it signed with each institution in June.

In an unprecedented move in February, the government revealed in its budget that the eight public universities would be asked to return HK$4 billion (US$509.6 million) from their reserves that they had saved from previous government funding. Earlier, university chiefs had indicated a willingness to do so.

The budget also stated that authorities would only offer the eight public universities HK$68.1 billion in the coming three school years, falling short of the HK$70.9 billion proposed by the UGC, resulting in a 4 per cent average reduction rate.

The new clauses specified that the government would not only be allowed to claw back the money, but also exert fuller control of the funding granted to the universities.