Arthur Li

The Honorable Arthur Kwok Cheung Li GBS, JP
李國章
Arthur Kwok Cheung Li (left)
Vice-Chancellor of Chinese University of Hong Kong
In office 1996–2002
Chancellor	Lord Patten of Barnes Tung Chee-hwa
Preceded by	Charles Kao
Succeeded by	Ambrose King
Secretary for Education and Manpower
In office 2002–2007
Preceded by	Fanny Law
Succeeded by	Michael Suen
Personal details
Born	27 June 1945
Spouse(s)	Diana Chester; 2 children
Relations	Koon-chun Li (great grandfather) Fook-shu Li (father) Tze-ha Wu (mother) David Li (brother) Athena Li (granddaughter)

Arthur Li
Traditional Chinese	李國章
Simplified Chinese	李国章
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lǐ Guózhāng

Arthur Li Kwok-cheung GBS JP (born 27 June 1945) is a member of the Executive Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and was Secretary for Education and Manpower from August 2002 to June 2007. He is the grandson of the co-founder of the Bank of East Asia, Li Koon-chun, and brother of its current chairman, David Li.

Life and career

An alumnus of St. Paul's Co-educational College and a classmate of Professor Lawrence J. Lau, Li received his medical training at the University of Cambridge. He was subsequently trained at Middlesex Hospital Medical School and Harvard Medical School, before returning to Hong Kong to become the founding chairman of the Department of Surgery and Dean of Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Li's tenure as Secretary for Education and Manpower was marked by an era of education reforms that included the School-Based Management Policy. Since 2000, the Education and Manpower Bureau has implemented a number of mandates, including having teachers spend more time with students outside the classroom, adding exams for subjects such as English and history, and ordering that teachers take benchmark assessments to prove their language abilities. Li ostensibly retired from public service in 2007.

In the role, he caused controversy by proposing mergers first between Chinese University and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and later between Chinese University and the Hong Kong Institute of Education.^[1]

Li's appointment by CY Leung to the governing board of the University of Hong Kong in 2015 met with strong criticism from staff, a poll shows most of them have little to no confidence in him will uphold academic freedom,^[2][3] and his generally hostile attitude^[4] and criticism toward university staff only exacerbated the problem further.^{[5] [6]}

Six months later, when it became known that Li was likely to take over the chairmanship of the Council upon the expiry of the term of Edward Leong on 6 November, there was further strong opposition, with 87 percent of members of HKU Academic Staff Association and almost three-quarters of members of the Professional Teachers Union opposed,^[1] due to his stance during the University of Hong Kong pro-vice-chancellor selection controversy.

Reputation

His leadership style has seen him being referred to as "King Arthur" or even "the Tsar".^[7]

Personal life

He was married to Diana Chester, a registered nurse and graduate of New Hall College, Cambridge University who died in 2013. He has two sons.

Appointments

Before his appointment, Li was Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), as well as:

• Professor of Surgery and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, CUHK
• Member of the Education Commission and Member of the Committee on Science and Technology
• Member of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority
• Member of the Hong Kong Medical Council
• Member of the University Grants Committee
• Member of the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong
• Member of the Hospital Governing Committee of United Christian Hospital, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong
• Member of the board of directors of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation
• Member of the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute
• Vice-President of the Association of University presidents of China
• Patron of the Royal College of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland
• Regent of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
• Honorary Fellow of the American Surgical Association
• Hon Fellow of the America College of Surgeons
• Hon Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and Glasgow
• Hon Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine

See also

• Politics of Hong Kong
• Executive Council of Hong Kong
• School-Based Management Policy
• University of Hong Kong pro-vice-chancellor selection controversy

References

1. University of Hong Kong alumni vow action to stop ex-minister Arthur Li taking over as chairman of ruling council, SCMP, 25 Oct 2015
2. Arthur Li made a HKU council member, RTHK, 21 March 2015
3. Most HKU staff have no confidence in Arthur Li, poll shows, EJ Insight, 23 April 2015
4. "昨晚政府刊憲委任一向仇視港大的李國章做校委會主席，引起港大校友和師生不滿。" 多名校委不滿李國章入主港大 陳祖為批政府一意孤行
5. "Li had weeks earlier blamed the drop in international ranking of local universities on "academics who would rather appear in talk shows than do their job of teaching" Most HKU staff have no confidence in Arthur Li, poll shows, EJ Insight, 23 April 2015
6. For example, upon appointment he promptly criticised HKU professors for having "become intellectually incompetent".HKU Professors Insulted, South China Morning Post, 6 April 2015
7. "'King' Arthur Li tipped as Hong Kong's next chief executive". South China Morning Post. 22 February 2015.

External links

• Arthur Li profile at Hong Kong Government website (archive)

Quotations related to Arthur Li at Wikiquote