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William Yiu

The head of Hong Kong’s City University, Professor Freddy Boey Yin Chiang, has resigned with immediate effect for personal reasons, leaving his post two years earlier than expected.
The university expressed its gratitude to Boey, a Singaporean, for his contributions to CityU during his three years as president.
“The executive committee of the [university’s] council has appointed provost and deputy president Professor Lee Chun-sing as acting president with immediate effect to ensure continued operation. The council will provide full support to ensure stability during the transition,” it said on Friday.
It said a global recruitment exercise for the next president would be launched shortly.
A source on the council said Boey’s five-year contract was supposed to run until 2028.
Boey, an expert in biomaterials engineering, became CityU’s fifth president in May 2023.
The academic, born in 1956, succeeded Professor Way Kuo, who led CityU for 15 years.
The source said council members were notified at 10am that a meeting would be held at 11am and that they could join online or in person.
“I feel it had all been arranged and that some core council members should have already discussed it before the meeting,” the insider said.
“I don’t think he resigned on Friday. They just announced at the meeting that he had resigned. The meeting only lasted for around 20 minutes.”
The member said no one requested details about Boey’s resignation or asked him to stay on, including the council as a whole.
“We were told three things: Boey had resigned with immediate effect; all questions from outside the university should be directed to the communications office; and that the provost would be the acting head,” the member said.
The source expressed hope that the next leader would have an international outlook as CityU was now ranked in the top 100 in the world as well as having some connections with mainland China since the university had a campus in Dongguan, Guangdong.
“I also hope the next president can maintain a good relationship with the business sector, as it can benefit CityU’s research, academic and industry sectors,” the member said.
Another source from the university earlier said Boey’s frequent overseas work trips had raised some eyebrows internally.
Asked whether Boey’s trips had sparked conflicts with the council and eventually led to his resignation, a CityU spokeswoman said the university would not comment further due to data privacy considerations.
The council member said it was normal for Boey to take many trips, as CityU signed many agreements with different overseas institutions during his tenure.

The university signed several partnership agreements and memorandums of understanding over the past two years to foster collaboration in various fields, including with institutions on the mainland, in Vietnam, Britain, Turkey, Belgium, Australia, Kazakhstan and Qatar.
Tim Lui Tim-leung, chairman of the University Grants Committee, a government advisory body that allocates funding for higher education institutions, said he respected Boey’s personal decision and expressed gratitude for his contributions to higher education in Hong Kong over the years.
“I look forward to the university community upholding the spirit of innovation and continuing to contribute to the development of Hong Kong and the nation,” he said.
The Education Bureau said it respected Boey’s personal wish and decision and thanked him for his contributions to the university during his tenure.
“The recruitment of the president is part of the university’s institutional autonomy and is taken care of by the CityU council under the authority conferred on it by the CityU Ordinance,” a bureau spokesman said.
Boey was deputy president for innovation and enterprise at the National University of Singapore before his move to CityU and is known for his contributions in applying functional biomaterials for medical devices.
Before joining CityU, Boey also made a name for himself as an inventor, establishing several companies to capitalise on his designs for cardiovascular, ocular and other implants.


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Education in Hong Kong

Professor Freddy Boey became CityU’s fifth president in May 2023. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Freddy Boey joined CityU from the National University of Singapore. Photo: Jonathan Wong

The University of Hong Kong was the city’s highest-ranked institution in the Times Higher Education Asian league table, retaining sixth place. Photo: Dickson Lee

The Education University of Hong Kong was the second-highest new entrant, ranking 37th. Photo: Roy Issa

6 Hong Kong universities set new record in global top 200

The University of Hong Kong rose from 35th to 33rd place in the World University Rankings, the highest among all local varsities. Photo: Karma Lo

CUHK has said the achievement reflects its “continuous progress in teaching, research and internationalisation, as well as the joint efforts of our faculty, staff, students and alumni”. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Hong Kong CityU chief Freddy Boey quits post 2 years earlier than expected

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Singaporean academic resigns as president for personal reasons

Singaporean academic resigns as president for personal reasons