In November 1998, the UGC appointed Harvey H Kaiser and Associates, in collaboration with Leigh & Orange, a well-known Hong Kong based architectural practice, to carry out a focused and clearly-defined review to establish methodology and norms to assess the space and accommodation requirements of the existing UGC-funded institutions.

The institutions were actively involved in the exercise and they contributed positively in various stages of the study through site visits and active discussions.

The Final Report was submitted to the UGC in early 2000. The Report recommended a room use-based methodology in assessing, at a macroscopic level, the adequacy of the institutions' space provision, and on the basis of the suggested methodology, advised on the extent to which each institution was then over- or under-provided with space and accommodation for its present and approved levels of activities.

The report was subsequently endorsed by the UGC and the Administration. Since then, the UGC has been using the Kaiser Report as the basic reference and the room use-based methodology as the means for its initial assessment of the institutions' individual and relative space needs when considering their capital project proposals, with due regard to the particular circumstances of each institution.