Academic and non-teaching staff and student unions of local universities yesterday joined forces to ask the government to restore funding grants for 2004-05 to the 2002-03 level.

They further demanded that university funding for 2005 to 2008 remain intact.

Although the government wants to cut more, it must consult the parties concerned with a long-term blueprint before taking any action, they argued.

A total of 26 deputations from the eight local universities yesterday expressed their views at the Legislative Council's Education Panel meeting.

In his capacity as convener of the Heads of Universities Committee, Prof Paul Chu, president of the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST), pointed out that tertiary institutions had suffered cuts of more than 10 per cent since 1998.

The proposed 13 per cent reduction for 2004-05 alone was too heavy and unprecedented, and he feared that the cut would affect the associate degree and higher diploma courses.

Shum Kar-ping, chairman of the Federation of the Hong Kong Higher Education Institutions Staff Associations, pointed out that the aggregate reduction amounted to 45.8 per cent if staff pay cuts were included.

The problem could be resolved by restoring university funding to the 2002-03 level, as Financial Secretary Henry Tang proposed only a 11 per cent reduction over five years.

Chan Che-wai, chairman of the Academic Staff Association of the University of Hong Kong, agreed.

He referred to the latest report by the Director of Audit in which the Education & Manpower Bureau was blamed for not using public money properly, saying there would be room for cost savings by the bureau.

Y.C. Chan, vice-chairman of the Staff Association of City University, conceded that there was room for cutting costs at universities.

"As university salaries are linked to the civil service, we are willing to accept the same level of pay cuts if civil service pay is reduced," he said.

HKUST's student unions opposed the funding cuts slated for 2005 to 2008 because of the budget deficit.

Echoing that view, the student union of the Polytechnic University went so far as to say that all reduction plans be stopped before reaching a consensus.

Many student unions also criticized the HK$1 billion Matching Grant scheme in which one dollar is paid to universities for every dollar they raise.

There is no such thing as a "fund-raising culture" in Hong Kong, and the scheme would impose problems for institutions with a shorter history, said the student unions of the Chinese University and Baptist University.

(China Daily HK Edition December 2, 2003)