Shenzhen University (Photo: szu.edu.cn)

Shenzhen University (SZU) in South China’s Guangdong Province is planning to establish a branch campus in Hong Kong, which will provide more employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for young Hong Kong people, as well as deepening exchanges between the city and the mainland.

The plan was raised by Li Qingquan, Party secretary and president of the university, who is also a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), in a proposal delivered during the two sessions. 

He told the Global Times on Tuesday that setting up the university would offer Hong Kong students more useful courses that may benefit their employment and entrepreneurship in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and pave the way for their future personal development.

It will also help to increase the national identity of young people in Hong Kong, and promote the prosperity and stability of the region, he said. 
SZU is the first university in the mainland to have come up with a plan to set up a Hong Kong campus. 

The university is one of the high-level comprehensive universities in the mainland. As it is in Shenzhen, which is a one-hour travel distance from Hong Kong, the university has more than 200 Hong Kong students and over 10,000 alumni working there.

When asked if he was concerned that the academic environment in the branch campus would be influenced by politics or if he was worried about low enrollment rates, Li said there might be some problems during the process but the university could solve the challenges according to national laws and regulations, Hong Kong media reports said.

Though the plan is still in the early stages, Li said the school will conduct comprehensive research into issues such as the integration of the new branch campus into the university culture of Hong Kong, and how to handle students’ activities and social affairs. 

Li said he hoped that the branch campus could increase Hong Kong people’s understanding of mainland universities, and cultivate students' independent and objective thinking in an international learning atmosphere. 

The exchanges and cooperation between the universities and education institutions in the mainland and Hong Kong has been deepened in recent years under the national strategy for development of the GBA. 

Some universities in Guangdong and Hong Kong have signed cooperation agreements for scientific academic exchanges, mutual enrollment, curriculum development, employment and entrepreneurship and other aspects. 

Li also encouraged other universities in the mainland to establish education or research institutions in Hong Kong, which he believes will be conducive to creating a new channel for mainland universities to attract international talent. He said it could also help to transform the research achievements of the mainland universities and serve the industrial transformation and development of the region.