馮偉華（香港大學1983年社會科學學士、1993年社會科學碩士、2005年哲學博士）

自香港大學校務委員會無理否決陳文敏的任命後，港大的師生及校友皆對校委會的決定感到極之不滿。港大校友關注組、港大教師及職員會、港大學生會及18個專業團體在10月9日晚上，在港大中山廣場舉行黑衣集會，表達對校務委員會的失望及憤怒。

學術自由是港大成功的基石

母校成立逾百載，一直成績斐然，在亞洲區高等學府間手執牛耳。多年以來之所以能孕育出黃麗松、黃霑等在社會上舉足輕重的前輩，全賴香港大學能夠包容到不同方面的聲音，做到「海納百川」。大學就是要讓不同的聲音匯集於校園之內，再透過思想的衝擊，製造出可以造福社會的新知識。而「學術自由」就是要保證所有人皆可以在大學內表達不同的意見，而不會被當權者秋後算帳，不會因為他的意見不中聽而影響到學業成績及職業升遷。

雖然學術自由對一所大學的成功至為關鍵，但它卻是極之脆弱。現時港大校務委員會是港大的最高行政機關，掌握著母校的命脈，當中卻有7名委員是由行政長官委任，包括校委會的主席。這次任命副校長的風波已經顯露出這個架構的瘋狂之處：即使校長、教師、職員及學生代表多次明示希望按照物色委員會的建議進行任命，只要這些校外校委一直說不，校長及其他師生代表一樣苦無良策，任命建議亦最終告吹。 …… 閱讀全文 →

Concerns about political interference with academic freedom and institutional autonomy at local universities spread across the higher education community after the Pro-Vice-Channcellor controversy of the University of Hong Kong (HKU). On 9 Oct, the appointment of Julius Ho Kwan-yiu and solicitor Maggie Chan Man-ki to the Council of Lingnan University (LU) was gazetted. Ho, who is the former President of the Law Association and the former chairman of Tuen Mun District Rural Committee, have made many inappropriate speeches, including the request for the disbanding of the LU Students’ Union and criticizing some local social workers “fake and useless”. Chan is a member of the Wong Tai Sin District Council as well as a member of DAB. Their political background has made the society think that the appointments were again some kind of political rewards.

Ho: What should I do if I failed to protect the institutional autonomy?

On City Forum, an RTHK public affairs program, Philip Lau Chun-lam, President of Lingnan University Students’ Union demanded Junius Ho to promise to protect the academic freedom and institutional autonomy of Lingnan University. Ho just beat around the bush and refused to give any concrete answer, as he thought that there was no common and clear definition on “institutional autonomy”. He further replied to the reporters, “what should I do if I promised to do something for institutional autonomy but finally I failed?” Concerning the further actions of the Students’ Union, including the referendum and the request for amending the Ordinance in fight to remove the Chief Executive as the University’s Chancellor, Ho considered these actions useless and even wondered why students could not make more effort to their studies, instead of staging protests.

Another appointed Council member, Wong Kwan-yu, casting doubt on the legitimacy of Students’ Union on a radio program, pointed out that its legitimacy was not far from controversy even the members of Students’ Union were elected by students. Before that, Wong has fully supported the full implementation of national education in schools. It is very ironic that Wong challenged the legitimacy of the students’ union, but he is now serving as a Council member, whose post is not elected by the students nor teachers.

Council of the University is the administrative organ of the university which can exercise any power to control the operation of the university. As a Council member, it is one of their responsibilities to safeguard the academic autonomy and institutional independence for the university. However, those appointed members now even refused to make this simple promise, which makes us wonder if they are serving the university or serve as the representatives of the Chief Executive. 18 Council members, more than half of the Council, are appointed by the Chief Executive. Those CE-appointed Council members can control all the affairs of the university, which would likely undermine the institution independence. We hope that the ordinance should be reviewed as soon as possible, so that more teachers and students’ representatives can sit in the Council. …… 閱讀全文 →

繼香港大學的副校長任命風波後，政治干預亦有擴散到其他大專院校的情況。政府於10月9日刊憲，公布梁振英任命何君堯及陳曼琪出任嶺南大學的校董。何君堯是屯門鄉事委員會前主席，曾多次發表極不恰當的言論，包括要求解散嶺南大學學生會、批評香港部分社工是「廢偽社工」等。而陳曼琪則是民建聯的中央委員會成員。兩人的親建制派背景，引起嶺南大學的學生及社會人士質疑今次的任命是「政治酬庸」。 …… 閱讀全文 →

>> 免費幼稚園教育委員會報告點評 主頁

要建立健全的教育專業體系，須為教師提供合理的工作環境和待遇，才能吸納人才、維持團隊穩定，以持續改善專業質素。十五年免費教育政策將會推出，這本是一大好時機，藉著資源投入，改善幼師沉重的工作壓力，和建立具前景的專業階梯。但根據免費幼稚園教育委員會報告書（報告書）建議，不少幼師反而擔心，未來人手恐怕改善不大，但監管的行政工作卻極可能大增，令他們極沉重的工作，雪上加霜。

編制人手不足　幼師工作量超標

早於2010年，香港教育學院曾就學券制對幼師工作的影響進行調查，發現幼師在不理想的工作環境下，已感到精力耗竭，損害身心健康：幼師欠缺正常午膳和休息時間、沒有空堂作教學準備，學校大多又未能給予合宜的辦公設施，不少幼師除了專責班內所有教學活動和評估工作，也要兼顧繁重的校務、家長工作和進修學習，令幼師疲於奔命。調查又指出，全職幼師每天平均工作逾10小時，而家長也支持幼師，建議政府提供充足的支援與配套，讓學校建立穩定的專業團隊和適切的工作環境。 …… 閱讀全文 →