The Battle for Hong Kong's Third Medical School (2024–2025)

Three universities, a scorecard of 10 criteria, a new coinage—"AI+ Academy"—and a contest spanning over a year. In the end, Hong Kong did not get a "pivot of four"; HKUST emerged the sole victor. PolyU's bid came with a blueprint for Ngau Tam Mei, over 90 laboratories, and more than 1,300 health-care-related academic and research staff, yet it could never quite bypass one hard limitation: no teaching hospital. This account traces the entire contest.

This article belongs to Module 11—"Medicine/Hospital" of the PolyU WILD Archive, filed under the Reference Zone (00–12) . It records facts as they stand and does not assign a credibility rating.

This is a matter of public record: a government call for proposals, a three-way contest, and a government announcement of the result, documented throughout by official bulletins and multiple media reports. This article recounts events neutrally, based on official notices and news reports. The accounts of all parties are presented in a balanced, factual manner. It takes no sides, makes no predictions, and draws no conclusions. That PolyU was not selected is an established fact, and this article records it faithfully, but refrains from any value judgement about "institutional politics" or "winning and losing."

Every assertion that includes a year, figure, or quotation is cited in-line. A full ## Sources list is given at the end of the article. For in-depth dossiers on PolyU's four key disciplines—Medical Laboratory Science, Biomedical Engineering, Optometry, and Nursing—see the companion documents third-medical-school-bid-2.md, third-medical-school-bid-3.md, and third-medical-school-bid-4.md.

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# 1. The story in one sentence

In 2024, the Hong Kong government initiated the establishment of a third medical school. A government press release^※ shows that Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) each submitted a proposal by the deadline of 17 March 2025. According to a government press release (2025-11-18)^※, the Executive Council gave in-principle approval on 18 November 2025 for HKUST to establish the new medical school— PolyU was not selected.

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# 2. Why a third medical school?

Hong Kong previously had only two medical schools (at HKU and CUHK). Establishing a third is part of the government's policy on medical manpower and medical education. According to the government press release (2025-11-18)^※ and a UGC press release (2025-11-18)^※, the new school is positioned to help develop Hong Kong into an "international hub for medical training, research and innovation." It is slated to open in the 2028/29 academic year, admitting an initial cohort of 50 students to a four-year graduate-entry medical programme.

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# 3. Official process timeline (per government announcements)

The following timeline is drawn entirely from government press releases, with each entry sourced:

According to the press release of 2025-03-17^※, the Task Group employed a set of 10 major criteria for its overall assessment, including "innovative strategic positioning," "curriculum structure and assessment methods," and "financial sustainability" (the announcement listed only a few examples, and did not enumerate all 10).

Note: CityU did not submit a proposal. Rumours had briefly placed CityU among the "contenders," but according to the government press release cited above, only HKBU, PolyU, and HKUST actually submitted proposals. This site follows the official record and does not propagate the unverified "four-way contest" narrative (this is a correction made after our own proactive fact-checking).

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# 4. The thrust of the three proposals (as attributed in the government announcement)

Crucial ground rule: The following summaries of each proposal's thrust are all attributed to the objective descriptions given in the government press release. This site adds no evaluation of its own and draws no comparisons. According to the Government press release (2025-11-18)^※:

• HKUST (selected): The government announcement stated that HKUST's proposal was focused on nurturing "physician-scientists" with both clinical competence and research expertise.
• PolyU: The government announcement stated that PolyU's proposal was focused on inter-professional training and the application of artificial intelligence.
• HKBU: The government announcement stated that HKBU's proposal advocated for a curriculum integrating Chinese and Western medicine.

Regarding financial commitment, according to the same press release^※, the government noted that HKUST had committed to partially funding the new medical school from its own resources (including donations and funds), including over HK$2 billion for constructing a new integrated building on its Clear Water Bay campus to serve as temporary premises. Multiple media outlets further reported that HKUST's proposal was seen by the government as being more financially aligned with its "matching grant" policy, and mentioned the construction of a permanent campus in Ngau Tam Mei (@[as relayed by China Daily HK Edition, HKFP, and others, see sources section]; Caixin Global (2025-11-19)^※).

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# 5. Public details of the PolyU proposal (per PolyU's official media release)

PolyU publicly outlined its proposal. This site recounts it based on PolyU's official press release. The following facts are attributed to PolyU itself.

According to a PolyU media release (2025-03-19)^※, PolyU announced its plan to establish the third medical school, with these core features:

• Proposed a four-year bachelor's degree programme for degree-holders, with an initial intake of 50 local and non-local students, to be expanded progressively.
• Planned an "AI+ Academy," focusing on AI-assisted diagnosis and treatment, leveraging its strengths in integrating medicine and engineering.
• Stated it was backed by more than 1,300 health-care-related academic and research staff and over 90 specialised laboratories and research facilities.
• Planned to locate the school at the proposed Ngau Tam Mei "UniTown" in the Northern Metropolis. According to the release, PolyU was willing to bear the related financial expenses before moving into UniTown (same release^※).

Also, according to the South China Morning Post (2024-03-01)^※, as early as 2024, PolyU had made public statements about planning a medical school, hospital, and hotel in the Northern Metropolis. The report quoted PolyU sources as saying the University "has a natural edge with its programmes in nursing, physiotherapy, optometry and medical laboratory science" (the report is second-hand news; attribution rests with the original article).

A reminder: PolyU currently has no medical school and no teaching hospital. The above are all matters at the proposal/concept stage, not established institutions. For PolyU's existing health disciplines and clinics, see health-disciplines-and-clinics.md.

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# 6. The outcome and PolyU's response

According to the Government press release (2025-11-18)^※ and the Government news website (2025-11-18)^※, the Executive Council gave in-principle approval for HKUST to host Hong Kong's third medical school. Multiple media reports (Caixin Global^※) stated that the unsuccessful bidders were HKBU and PolyU.

PolyU promptly issued a public response. According to a PolyU media release (2025-11-18)^※, PolyU stated that it "fully respects the Government's decision" and congratulated HKUST. The release said PolyU had submitted "a comprehensive proposal, leveraging decades of experience in healthcare education," hoping it might serve as a reference for medical development in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. PolyU also stated it would continue to leverage its strengths in integrating medicine and engineering, deepen clinical collaboration with hospitals, accelerate translational medical research, and actively nurture healthcare talent, adding that it would "review and draw lessons from this experience... to prepare for future challenges" (quoted from the official release, attributed to the current PolyU leadership by title).

Per §02 site rules, the 00–12 Reference Zone may record names. However, because this article involves the roles of current university leadership in this event, for the sake of uniform rigour, the main text refers to them exclusively by their titles— "the current PolyU Vice-Chancellor and President," "the current PolyU Council Chairman," etc.—without naming them. (Official statements by government officials are attributed by their official post titles, as per the original announcements.)

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# 7. Status to date

As of the data cut-off for this article (June 2026), HKUST's hosting of Hong Kong's third medical school is an announced and settled outcome. According to the Government news website (2025-11-18)^※, HKUST's new programme is expected to admit its first cohort (of 50 students, potentially expanding later to 100–200 per year) in the 2028/29 academic year, with the first graduates starting internships around 2032. The permanent campus is slated to be built in Ngau Tam Mei, with completion expected around 2034–2035; during the interim period, HKUST will construct temporary facilities on its existing Clear Water Bay campus. Regarding matching grants, the government will provide matching funding to the new medical school, and HKUST has itself committed over HK$2 billion for infrastructure.

PolyU was not selected. It has stated publicly that it respects the decision and will review the experience. Judging by the public statements of the current PolyU leadership, the University will continue to deepen its health science research in the directions of "medicine-engineering integration" and "AI healthcare," but there is no further contest for the "third medical school." Whether PolyU will propose another medical education scheme in the future, or how its health-related concepts for the Northern Metropolis will proceed, are all future matters. This site makes no predictions, leaving these to be verified and updated based on subsequent official announcements.

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# 8. Policy background: Why Hong Kong needs a third medical school

Medical manpower has been a long-term issue in Hong Kong. The government's proposal to establish a third medical school is situated within this public policy context:

• Doctor supply: According to Census and Statistics Department / Medical Council registration figures for 2023^※, Hong Kong's doctor-to-population ratio (approximately 2.1 per 1,000) is lower than in many developed economies. The Hospital Authority and the private sector have long reported doctor shortages.
• Capacity limits of the two existing schools: The HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine and CUHK Faculty of Medicine (CU Medicine) together train roughly 550 medical students per year (roughly 250 at HKU and 300 at CUHK). According to government documents, the new medical school aims to add 100–200 new doctors per year at full capacity.
• Greater Bay Area medical collaboration: Government documents also position the third medical school as a platform to support medical talent training for the Greater Bay Area, aligning with the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park at the Lok Ma Chau Loop and the GBA's overall layout.
• Graduate-entry model: The government's choice of a four-year graduate-entry model aligns with comparable programmes in the UK and Australia, distinct from the current six-year undergraduate programmes at HKU and CUHK (per Government press release (2025-11-18)^※).

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# 9. PolyU's health discipline base and its relevance to the bid

PolyU's participation in the contest was grounded in its disciplinary base: Nursing (a long-established school offering bachelor's-to-doctoral programmes), Physiotherapy (one of Hong Kong's oldest and highly internationally ranked), Optometry (the territory's only school of optometry), Medical Laboratory Science, Radiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, and, in recent years, strengthened Biomedical Engineering in collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering.

The network of clinical collaboration hospitals built up by these disciplines (mainly comprising affiliated arrangements with public hospitals such as Tseung Kwan O Hospital and various geriatric hospitals) and their faculty were seen by PolyU as the bedrock of its proposal. However, PolyU has no medical school and no teaching hospital—a clear gap relative to HKU and CUHK, and one of the core problems its proposal had to solve (per SCMP (2024-03-01)^※). In a sense, PolyU was playing a strong hand of allied health disciplines in a game that required the trump card of a teaching hospital.

For in-depth dossiers on PolyU's four key disciplines—Medical Laboratory Science, Biomedical Engineering, Optometry, and Nursing—including rankings, histories, and unique status, see the companion documents: third-medical-school-bid-2.md (Medical Lab Science/Biomedical Engineering), third-medical-school-bid-3.md (School of Optometry), and third-medical-school-bid-4.md (School of Nursing).

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# 10. The positioning of the HKBU and HKUST proposals (official overview)

According to the Government press release (2025-11-18)^※, the three competing institutions each had a distinct positioning:

• HKBU proposal (unsuccessful): Focused on integrating Chinese and Western medicine, consistent with HKBU's long-established tradition in Chinese medicine (HKBU houses a School of Chinese Medicine with deep expertise in herbal medicine and acupuncture). Its clinical collaboration arrangements were also noted for their strength in Chinese medicine service networks.
• PolyU proposal (unsuccessful): Focused on inter-professional training and AI application, combining PolyU's interdisciplinary strengths in engineering, AI, and data science. PolyU proposed the "AI+ Academy" and "medicine-engineering integration" as its differentiating positioning.
• HKUST proposal (selected): Focused on nurturing physician-scientists, emphasising equal weight on clinical ability and research expertise. HKUST could draw on its powerful research base (strong performer in science fields in QS subject rankings) and over a decade of investment in biomedical research.

The government did not release itemised scores for each university against the evaluation criteria. This site therefore refrains from commenting on the detailed assessment of each proposal's merits and demerits, and adheres to the wording of the official announcements. Taken together, the three proposals neatly illustrate three different "differentiation strategies"—Chinese-Western medicine integration, AI + inter-professional, and physician-scientist—and the government ultimately chose the one most tightly bound to "research expertise."

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# 11. Main arguments in media and public discussion (attributed)

This section collates the main positions from various parties in public discussions surrounding the third medical school, strictly attributed to media reports. They do not represent the stance of this site.

Arguments in support of the PolyU proposal (per SCMP and other media^※): PolyU's "AI + healthcare" positioning aligns with Hong Kong's policy goal of developing into a smart healthcare city. PolyU's accumulated interdisciplinary team in nursing, optometry, and physiotherapy provides a foundation for curricular innovation. If realised, the strategic deployment of the Ngau Tam Mei "UniTown" in the Northern Metropolis could offer long-term planning space for a medical school.

Arguments questioning the PolyU proposal (per analyses in multiple media outlets): Analysts pointed to PolyU's lack of a medical education tradition and absence of a teaching hospital as the most fundamental weakness of its proposal. Some views held that the "AI + medicine" positioning was novel but lacked a mature precedent. Others suggested PolyU would need to resolve an "accreditation gap" relative to its HKU and CUHK peers.

This site cannot verify the objectivity of the analyses above. They are recorded here purely in the form attributed to media sources. No endorsement or scoring is implied.

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# 12. Comparison with the third medical school landscape at other Hong Kong institutions

Beyond the two institutions with existing medical schools—HKU (Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine) and CUHK (CU Medicine)—the actual participants in this contest were PolyU (foundation in nursing/optometry/physiotherapy/medical lab science, unsuccessful), HKBU (School of Chinese Medicine, Chinese-Western medicine integration base, unsuccessful), and HKUST (life sciences/biomedical research base, selected). Although CityU was initially included in some speculative lists, it did not submit a proposal. The result of this contest has significant implications: HKUST, adding to its traditional image as an engineering and science powerhouse, formally enters the medical education landscape, forming a trilateral structure with HKU and CUHK. PolyU and HKBU, meanwhile, must continue developing their health-science trajectories without a medical school of their own.

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# 13. PolyU's follow-on potential in "AI healthcare"

Despite not being selected to host the third medical school, PolyU still has several official, public footholds in the "AI + healthcare" direction: PolyU's PolyMed (InnoHK Research Centre)—this centre, led by PolyU and based in the Hong Kong Science Park, focuses on health-tech translation (see health-disciplines-and-clinics.md). Optometry—PolyU's School of Optometry has an international reputation in myopia control research (see third-medical-school-bid-3.md). Rehabilitation robotics and medical devices—PolyU's Faculty of Engineering and School of Design have consistently produced award-winning innovations in medical devices (e.g., an ankle-foot rehabilitation robot that won a CES 2025 Innovation Award; per EurekAlert!^※). PolyU's Northern Metropolis planning—Should the Ngau Tam Mei UniTown materialise, PolyU might develop integrated facilities covering healthcare, education, and research in that area, but this is a future plan and this site makes no predictions.

From another angle, "not getting a medical school licence" and "abandoning the healthcare map" are two different things. The cards in PolyU's hand—nursing, optometry, rehabilitation, AI—may not assemble into a medical school, but they are more than enough to underpin an entire industrial chain in medicine-engineering integration.

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# 14. Not applicable / Nothing found

• Correction of the "four-way contest" narrative: The actual parties submitting proposals were HKBU, PolyU, and HKUST. CityU did not submit a proposal (Press release 2025-03-17^※).
• No speculation on "inside stories" for the rejection: The government announcement attributed the outcome to an "overall assessment using 10 criteria," giving factors such as financial sustainability as public reasons. This site does not relay any "inside reasons" not substantiated by official or reliable news sources.

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# 15. Policy landscape, terminology, and PolyU's next steps

For decades, Hong Kong had only two medical schools, HKU's and CUHK's, with graduates from both requiring licensure by the Medical Council of Hong Kong. Establishing a third medical school is seen in many East Asian higher-education systems as a core hallmark of a "comprehensive, full-spectrum university." The government has encouraged self-funding by the host university through a matching-grant model, and the four-year graduate-entry programme model is a first for Hong Kong. Following the contest's conclusion, PolyU has publicly stated it will "review the experience." Possible paths forward include continuing to deepen its work in "AI healthcare + inter-professional health" (the most likely scenario, as the University has already indicated this stance), building a collaborative relationship with the new HKUST medical school, or applying again for a medical school qualification in the future (this site makes no predictions).

Glossary of terms: Graduate-entry means students must hold a bachelor's degree before admission. Physician-scientist refers to a doctor with both clinical and research capabilities. The Task Group is the expert advisory panel formed by the government to assess the three proposals. Ngau Tam Mei is one of the proposed sites for a university town in the Northern Metropolis.

Data cut-off statement: The primary data for this article is current to June 2026. The progress of HKUST's medical school preparations, and whether PolyU announces any new strategy, may change thereafter. Readers are advised to consult official announcements for verification and updates. This site makes no predictions about any future developments.

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