UGC's review of CityU's second veterinary school proposal

CityU submitted a proposal to the UGC for the establishment of a publicly-funded veterinary school in 2009. Having examined the academic, clinical, and accreditation prospects as well as the financial aspects of that proposal, and having regard to the Administration's views at the time on the demand for veterinarians, the UGC then was unable to support the proposal. CityU submitted a second proposal to the UGC to reapply for funding to establish a publicly-funded veterinary school. The UGC established in March 2013 a Veterinary School Task Force to examine CityU's second proposal. The Task Force submitted a report to the UGC in December 2013.

The UGC discussed CityU's proposal and the report of the Task Force at the meeting on 10 January 2014. The UGC agreed to the recommendation of the Task Force that CityU's proposal had not provided a persuasive case for the development of a UGC-funded vet school and thus its proposal could not be supported. This was based on analysis of matters such as societal needs; professional qualifications and prospects of the graduates; programme arrangements and accreditation; research support; budget estimates and funding support. The UGC also noted the analysis of the demand and supply of veterinarians in Hong Kong as stated in the report. On ways to address the public health and other challenges as identified in the report, the UGC considered that further discussion in the community would be needed on these matters in the future.

For full version of the Task Force Report, please click here.