{"id":53412,"date":"2020-07-31T13:19:55","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T20:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=53412"},"modified":"2020-07-31T13:19:55","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T20:19:55","slug":"hong-kongs-academics-are-being-isolated-in-more-ways-than-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/hong-kongs-academics-are-being-isolated-in-more-ways-than-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong\u2019s academics are being isolated in more ways than one"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Whatever happens elsewhere in the world, the universities of Hong Kong will never return to normal after the end of the Covid crisis.<\/p>\n

Higher education systems across the globe have been deeply shaken by the pandemic, but Hong Kong\u2019s has been triply blighted. First, we saw\u00a0a wave of temporary university closures<\/a>\u00a0in response to protests at the time of the 2019 Extradition Bill. Next, we had a whole term of online teaching, social distancing and lockdown \u2013 and my own university, for example, has opted for exclusively\u00a0online courses next term as well. Now\u00a0the\u00a0<\/a>National Security Law<\/a>\u00a0has introduced systems of surveillance and new police powers, including an\u00a0ill-defined mandate to \u201cintercept communications and conduct covert surveillance on a person suspected of endangering national security\u201d.<\/p>\n

One of the four main offences set out in the law, for which penalties include life imprisonment, is \u201ccollusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security\u201d. Of course, universities today have to prioritise international collaborations. Yet the precise nature of \u201ccollusion and of \u201cexternal elements\u201d is so vague that most academics will surely think twice before getting openly involved in projects in fields such as security, international relations, politics and even arts and humanities.<\/p>\n

The government response to the pandemic has led to notable changes within institutions.\u00a0Communal tables in libraries and study areas have been replaced by single seats spaced metres apart. Campus restaurants have single-file queues of students awaiting temperature checks. And there are signs everywhere recommending social distancing, hand-washing and mask-wearing.<\/p>\n

Even more significant have been changes introduced to address security concerns arising out of the recent protests.\u00a0Barbed wire, reinforced concrete, steel girders, security desks and checks, and newly installed electronic gates have all become common, often on largely empty campuses. As academics, we are well aware of the impact of the environment on individuals and these dramatic developments have left us shell-shocked.<\/p>\n

One of the most far-reaching effects is to shut off public access to universities. This is a huge pity.\u00a0Writing in\u00a0Times Higher Education\u00a0<\/em>in 2018, for example, Les Back, of Goldsmith\u2019s, University of London,\u00a0argued<\/a>\u00a0that university buildings should remain \u201cpublic places\u201d and lamented the way that\u00a0many UK campuses had installed security checks and made staff wear lanyards so they could keep all their swipe cards at the ready.<\/p>\n

Yet the issue is far more charged in our part of the world.\u00a0A 2017 article in\u00a0China Daily<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the English-language newspaper owned by the Communist Party of China \u2013 noted how, unlike in Europe and North America, \u201cmost Chinese universities are fenced off and some do not welcome outsiders\u201d. That April, \u201cSun Yat-sen University<\/a>\u00a0in South China’s Guangdong province [had decided to] bar visitors from entering the campus, with the aim of maintaining order and guaranteeing students\u2019 and teachers\u2019 security\u201d.<\/p>\n

This offers a sobering precedent for Hong Kong. Here, universities have always been an essential part of community life and the public takes great pride in their status and upkeep. Campuses in Shatin and Hong Kong Island have long been popular destinations for local families at weekends and over the summer months.\u00a0Such access is seen as integral to the public spirit here since government funding supports all Hong Kong\u2019s universities. Institutions themselves have also been keen to give back to their communities by providing recreational spaces for people living in congested urban centres with few parks.<\/p>\n

With sporadic unrest simmering again and Covid-19 still far from vanquished, no one knows when the public will be able to access Hong Kong universities so freely again. Yet this enforced separation may well lead to greater suspicion of academics and lend support to those intent on vilifying universities.<\/p>\n

Barricades, barbed wire and security checks inevitably affect the nature of what goes on within universities, as well as how they interact with their publics. It is to be greatly regretted that even when the coronavirus passes into history, such barriers seem highly likely to become a permanent feature in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

Author Bio: <\/em><\/strong>Michael O\u2019Sullivan is an academic working in Hong Kong.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whatever happens elsewhere in the world, the universities of Hong Kong will never return to normal after the end of the Covid crisis. Higher education systems across the globe have been deeply shaken by the pandemic, but Hong Kong\u2019s has been triply blighted. First, we saw\u00a0a wave of temporary university closures\u00a0in response to protests at […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":53413,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[295291],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-53412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-hong-kong"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHong Kong\u2019s academics are being isolated in more ways than one - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/hong-kongs-academics-are-being-isolated-in-more-ways-than-one\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hong Kong\u2019s academics are being isolated in more ways than one - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whatever happens elsewhere in the world, the universities of Hong Kong will never return to normal after the end of the Covid crisis. 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