Инженерный вестник: Hong Kong Aims to Attract Foreign Campuses to Its Shores

As part of the changes, visa laws have been eased so foreigners can stay in Hong Kong and work for a year after graduation. And quota limits on international students attending public universities are being raised to 20 percent from 10 percent.

But perhaps Hong Kong's most ambitious plan is offering land to entice new branch campuses.

"We have six pieces of land in our pocket," says Ms. Li. "I'm sure all of them have bidders, and some of them have more than one bidder."

Starting in the fall, the Hong Kong government will officially offer the largest plot, of more than 100,000 square meters, or nearly 25 acres—enough space to teach roughly 8,000 students—at the bargain price of $1,000 HK, or $129 U.S. The site, known as Queen's Hill, once housed a British military barracks near the border with China. Two more locations will be available in late 2010 or early 2011.

Hong Kong officials are careful to point out that Queen's Hill will not automatically go to a foreign campus or even to a single bidder. They are looking for reputable, self-financing, private colleges. "We don't have a wish list as such, but we really want to attract quality providers," says Ms. Li. "We want to assess the level of interest, both local and nonlocal."

Queen's Hill will be marketed to interested parties around the world by Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices, which operate essentially as the embassies for this "special administrative region" of China.

Savannah College is the first to test that opening market, although not the first American institution to open a campus or offer degrees in Hong Kong. Upper Iowa University, for example, opened a site nine years ago. Savannah College's deal with Hong Kong is somewhat of an outlier, however; Hong Kong's development bureau was searching for partners to conserve historic buildings, and the college won the bid to restore the court.

Hong Kong conservation officials "wanted art or education, and we're both art and education," says John Paul Rowan, vice president of Savannah College in Hong Kong, who is in charge of setting up the new campus.

Mr. Rowan says Savannah wanted to move to Hong Kong because the college already attracts a large number of Asian students and sees the potential to attract more. Hong Kong is its second foreign location; it has another campus in Lacoste, France.

The college is investing $250-million HK, or $32.1-million U.S., in its Hong Kong site, of which $100-million HK, or $12.9-million U.S., will pay for building restoration.

Source: The Chronicle

Full text of the article: on The Chronicle website

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