The Chief Executive-in-Council has endorsed the University of Science & Technology (UST) to establish Hong Kong's third medical school, with the inaugural cohort of 50 medical students expected to be admitted in 2028.

Secretary for Health Prof Lo Chung-mau made the announcement at a media session today while providing an update on the latest progress of the establishment of a new medical school.

He said the decision took into consideration the Task Group on New Medical School’s recommendations, after a holistic assessment based on 10 major criteria.

“The UST has got a lot of important advantages in terms of, for example, their innovative strategic positioning, building up clinician scientists, (and) their university ranking is certainly one of the matters that we considered as we see the UST has a more global outlook. And the financial model that they propose is more in line with the policy of having matching in our subsidy in this important venture.”

The university proposed to self-fund $2 billion to build a medical school complex in Clearwater Bay.

Prof Lo said: “About the reason for having an interim campus in Clear Water Bay, the Ngau Tam Mei site would not be ready by the year 2028, which is the proposed year for the initiation of this medical curriculum for the UST, so we have to have an interim campus for teaching. The Ngau Tam Mei campus will likely be ready at around 2034 to 2035, so we have to rely on the interim campus for teaching for the time being.

“And also because the teaching hospital in Ngau Tam Mei will not be ready for quite a while, we will need to rely on some other teaching hospitals, which is actually included in the proposal by the UST. And this is also the reason that we have to seek support from the Hospital Authority.”

The inaugural graduates are expected to begin housemanship in 2032, he added.