14 August 2024

On 16 August 2024, the University of Cape Town and the Metropolitan University of Hong Kong will sign a historic MoU which is the first of its kind to establish official working relations and thus marking a new and historic collaboration between the two Universities. This is one of the projects that the South African Consulate coordinated to promote people to people relations to reinforce cooperation and common commitment. 

Hong Kong Metropolitan University, formerly called The Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong (OLI), was established by the Hong Kong Government in 1989 and is governed by Ordinance under Cap. 1145. OLI then attained university title in May 1997 and was renamed as The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK). To better reflect the current status of and facilitate further development of service provisions, the University was retitled as “Hong Kong Metropolitan University” (HKMU) in 2021. 

The Consulate has established good working relations with various universities in Hong Kong including the Metropolitan University of Hong Kong. Recently the Consulate and the Metropolitan University of Hong Kong collaborated in partnership with Freedom Park to host the 30 years of democracy activities that took place from 17- 21 June 2024 as well as a month-long 30 years of democracy and Mandela legacy exhibition, courtesy of Freedom Park which ended on the 31 July 2024 at the University.

The MoU is based on the principle of mutual benefit to promote and enable collaboration for joint educational, cultural interactions, training and research purposes.

The areas proposed for collaboration include
•    Joint activities such as lectures on general topics and topics related to South Africa and the African continent for audiences in Hong Kong; 
•    Introducing the study tours and online courses of the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies to learners in Hong Kong; 
•    Exploring possibilities of establishing joint award programmes; 
•    Professional exchanges on university continuing education and lifelong learning for staff of both Parties; and
•    Any other academic activities deemed to be of mutual benefit in promoting lifelong learning exchanges between Hong Kong and the Republic of South Africa. 

This will mark a landmark and historic occasion as it will be the first time the relations are created between these Universities, thus enhancing bilateral relations between South Africa and Hong Kong in the area of education diplomacy and serving as a testament to successful forging of global and meaningful collaborations.