Not long ago, Mao Junfa, president of Shenzhen University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, revealed that Shenzhen University has taken the lead in setting up a Hong Kong campus.

It is becoming a new trend for more and more Hong Kong and Macao universities to come to the mainland, especially in Guangdong, to cooperate in running schools. At present, there are 10 Chinese-foreign cooperatively-run universities with independent legal personality in the mainland, of which 5 are in Guangdong. Other Chinese-foreign, Hong Kong-Macao cooperatively-run schools and projects that are not independent legal persons are flourishing everywhere.

However, it is the first case of Shenzhen University setting up a campus in Hong Kong, where mainland universities have "gone global" and universities are "full of experts". This also means that the cooperation in higher education in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has achieved a "two-way flow".

Why is Shenda "eating crabs"?

The establishment of a school-running institution in Hong Kong has been planned for a long time.

During the two sessions of the National People's Congress in 2021, Li Qingquan, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shenzhen University, who was serving as the president at the time, put forward a proposal to run a school in Hong Kong.

He believes that as the closest comprehensive university to Hong Kong in the mainland, Shenzhen University has a unique advantage in running schools in Hong Kong, "more than 200 Hong Kong students are studying at Shenzhen University, and more than 10,000 Shenzhen University alumni are working in Hong Kong."

At the same time, Shenzhen University has established cooperation with many universities in Hong Kong, covering eight public universities such as the University of Hong Kong and the University of Chinese of Hong Kong, involving cooperative research by teachers, joint training of students, and joint construction of laboratories and research centers. In addition, Shenzhen University also participated in the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.

Shenzhen University also has experience in "going out" to run schools.

In 2023, Shenzhen University Tokyo College, jointly organized by Shenzhen University and Japan's SPRIX Co., Ltd., will officially open its courses, which is the first educational institution established by Shenzhen University overseas.

Shenzhen University Tokyo College is a non-independent legal person teaching college affiliated to Shenzhen University, located in Yotsuya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, which mainly recruits Japanese citizens and other foreign citizens, mainly carries out undergraduate level academic education, and students will receive academic certificates and bachelor's degrees awarded by Shenzhen University after graduation.

With the establishment of a campus in Hong Kong, Shenzhen University became the "first person to eat crabs" among mainland universities.

The "Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area" proposes to support Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao universities to cooperate in running schools, and encourage joint construction of advantageous disciplines, laboratories and research centers.

However, for a long time, the cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao universities in running schools has mainly been a kind of "one-way flow" of Hong Kong and Macao universities "northward" to the mainland to set up school-running institutions.

Yang Yongcong, deputy dean of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Research Institute of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, believes that the establishment of a campus in Hong Kong by Shenzhen University has opened a precedent for mainland universities to "go south" to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao, breaking this "one-way flow" model.

For mainland universities, running schools in Hong Kong to attract more Hong Kong, Macao and international students will enhance the level of international education and exert greater influence in the international community.

"Going out" to run schools, these problems need to be solved

Shenzhen University is not the first mainland university to "go global" to run schools abroad, Hong Kong and Macao.

There are many successful precedents for running schools abroad, such as Xiamen University Malaysia Campus and Peking University UK Campus. Among the universities in Guangdong, there are Tokyo College of Shenzhen University and Japanese College of Jinan University.

Mainland universities are exploring the possibility of running schools in Macao, and South China Normal University is a pioneer. Since the 80s of the last century, ECNU has cooperated with different types of units such as the Macao Education Department, the Macao Chinese Education Association, and the Macao Amateur Education Center to set up schools, mainly to train teachers in primary and secondary schools in Macao, forming a relatively complete structure of the school-running system for Macao.

However, on the whole, the proportion of mainland universities running abroad and overseas is still relatively small.

According to Yang Yongcong's analysis, there are barriers to the flow of factors in the system for mainland universities to set up schools in Hong Kong, such as the difficulty of efficient and convenient cross-border flow of teachers, scientific research equipment, and funds from mainland universities;

Hong Kong's higher education is advanced and highly market-oriented, and it is difficult to reflect the competitive advantages of mainland universities and attract Hong Kong, Macao and international students. At the same time, mainland universities still lack experience in internationalization.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is characterized by "one country, two systems, three customs territories and three legal systems". Such particularity and complexity make the integrated development of higher education in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area face many constraints.

"Shenzhen University's pioneering exploration will provide a reference for more mainland universities, especially those in mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area, to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao. Yang Yongcong said.

It is proposed to enact special legislation for cooperation in running schools in the Greater Bay Area

In November 2020, the Ministry of Education and the Guangdong Provincial Government jointly issued the Plan for Promoting Higher Education Cooperation and Development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, proposing to comprehensively promote cooperation in higher education in the Greater Bay Area in running schools, educating people, innovating and providing services, and building the Greater Bay Area into a pilot zone for deepening the reform of the higher education system and mechanism, and a vivid example of comprehensive cooperation and development of education between the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao.

Lu Xiaozhong, dean of the Institute for Advanced Study of Education Development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area of South China Normal University, believes that under the new situation and new background, it is urgent for mainland higher education to "go global" to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao, and it is urgent to give guidance and norms in terms of laws and policies, and formulate and introduce special regulations on cooperation in running schools in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

At present, the cooperation between Hong Kong and Macao universities in running schools in the mainland is mainly based on and with reference to the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools promulgated and implemented in 2003.

Lu Xiaozhong pointed out that the historical background of the formulation of the regulations is quite different from the reality of the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and it does not provide clear guidance and norms for mainland universities to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao. He suggested that in the context of the construction of the Greater Bay Area International Education Demonstration Zone, it is urgent to study and formulate special laws and regulations to smooth the cooperative education mechanism in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Yang Yongcong also suggested that a special regulation on higher education cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area should be formulated to clarify the principles and ideas for mainland universities to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao, and to provide legal guidance for mainland universities to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao.

What other aspects should be further broken through in smoothing the path for mainland universities to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao?

Yang Yongcong said that mainland universities will face many new situations when they run schools in Hong Kong and Macao, but there is a policy lag in the current examination and approval system management. He suggested that mainland universities should be given more autonomy to run schools in Hong Kong and Macao, and that the record-filing system should be explored.

In addition, public universities in the mainland are supported by government financial funds, and new school buildings are set up in Hong Kong and Macao, which involves various aspects such as cost sharing and financial supervision, which requires the education management department to take the lead in straightening out the cooperation mechanism with Hong Kong and Macao.