The hegemonic wave of neoliberalism in higher education does not eradicate academic freedom in universities one by one. The possibility of resistance necessarily exists within the configuration of contemporary power relations. This study contributes to the theoretical debate on how global neoliberal forces are reproduced with local characteristics by providing a Hong Kong case. Based on interviews with 15 academics, their reactions and responses to a specific research evaluation system in Hong Kong, namely the Research Assessment Exercise 2020, are examined. The findings suggest that academic freedom has survived by adopting different forms of ‘masked resistance’ in the highly performative culture of Hong Kong academia. Such masked acts of resistance include ‘criticisms behind the curtain of conformity’, ‘scepticism and feigned compliance’, ‘cautious acceptance with substantial reservations’, ‘no reaction as an expression of muted dissatisfaction’, and ‘defence without rupture’. The ‘specificity’ of such inconsistent, ambivalent and nuanced responses is discussed by drawing on several local contextual factors: the political–educational culture, the government–institution relationship, and the disciplinary knowledge tradition. This study calls for greater flexibility in assessment regimes to make room for academics’ professional autonomy, which in essence enables, rather than dismantles, accountability in managerial reforms. © International Association of Universities 2021.

This article examines the evolving concept of Hong Kong as an education hub, with a focus on the influence of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) strategy on higher education development. It begins by reviewing the impacts of the policy of developing Hong Kong into an education hub on the city's educational landscape and global competitiveness. Subsequently, the article investigates the GBA's role as a subnational higher education region, highlighting the heightened strategic cooperation between Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland in the higher education arena. The cases of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou are examined as examples of cross-border education in the GBA, shedding light on their role in fostering research collaboration and knowledge exchange. The article reimagines the notion of an education hub, underscoring Hong Kong's transition from a gateway to a radiator , and discusses the implications of this shift for the city's global and national positioning. Through this analysis, the article examines the dynamics and future prospects of education hub in Hong Kong, particularly within the context of emphasising integration with the Chinese Mainland. • Reviewing Hong Kong's education hub policies, strategies, and outcomes. • Revealing China's the Greater Bay Area as a subnational higher education region and its implications for Hong Kong's position in the global and national higher education landscape. • Introducing and coining the term "radiator" as a conceptual representation of Hong Kong's repositioning. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier.

A considerable body of studies on neoliberalism in higher education has conducted macro-level philosophical analyses regarding the effects of assessment regimes on university management. This article expands the literature by providing an important set of empirical findings pertaining to Hong Kong universities' coping strategies in preparing their academics for the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2020). Based on 16 in-depth interviews and document review at two universities in Hong Kong, this study reveals that the institutional preparation for the RAE 2020 can be considered as a multifaceted discourse that complexly interweaves managerialism and academic professionalism. This article further discusses how neoliberal forces, as manifested in the RAE 2020 policy, are locally interpreted, resisted and negotiated as they are shaped by different local contextual factors. The findings indicate the need for greater commitment to academic professionalism in research management and stress the importance of manager-academics' benign and mediating engagement in the coping process. Copyright © 2022 Routledge.

Purpose>This paper aims to examine how Hong Kong universities have responded to a newly included assessment element of socio-economic impact in a government-implemented research evaluation system – Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2020 – within the context of tightening audits and forceful knowledge economy objectives.Design/methodology/approach>This paper reports an institutional case study of the institutional-level response to the RAE 2020 impact requirement at a top-ranked comprehensive university in Hong Kong. A qualitative inquiry approach was adopted. The data sources mainly include university documents related to the RAE 2020 socio-economic impact policy, interview data with nine RAE-eligible academics at the case university, documents on the RAE exercises issued by the University Grants Committee (UGC) and field notes taken during the RAE information sessions.Findings>The institutionalisation process of the RAE socio-economic impact agenda could be considered as establishing an indicator-oriented reward and recognition regime for knowledge transfer and knowledge exchange (KT/KE). Overall, two major institutional strategies were identified in operating the RAE 2020 impact agenda at the case university: (1) launching various policy initiatives: driven by the RAE-defined socio-economic impact; (2) incorporating socio-economic impact into faculty evaluation: premised upon the 16 KT performance indicators laid down by the UGC.Originality/value>This article adds to the theoretical debate on the local reproduction of the global in studies of neoliberalism in higher education by describing a Hong Kong case study, supported by empirical data, of an actual university's responses to the newly included impact requirement in RAE 2020. More specifically, this study reveals that (1) the policy for socio-economic impact might be designed in a neutral or even benevolent manner, but has taken on a neoliberal and managerial dimension in its actual implementation; and (2) the

The impact of neoliberalism in higher education has been widely discussed and debated, yet most analyses have viewed the changes on university governance and academic work in different countries as slavishly bound by more global neoliberal factors without paying sufficient attention to the local contextual factors. This empirical study foregrounds the local dimension by examining how the actual quotidian effects of RAE 2020 operate within higher education institutions and on working academics in Hong Kong. The paper reports on an interview-based study with 15 education academics from two government-funded universities in Hong Kong. Neoliberal forms of university governance based on a set of RAE-defined performance indicators were identified; academics’ divergent forms of ‘practice of freedom’ in coping with RAE 2020 were delineated. This study discusses why the universities displayed strong ‘reactivity’ to RAE 2020 and explains academics’ practicality and resilience in coping with policy changes by drawing upon Hong Kong's colonial history, government-university relationship and institutional culture in the specific academic environment. This article calls for greater flexibility in assessment regimes to restore trust and autonomy to the professions and development of alternative patterns of academic prestige to elicit a healthy diversity of policy responses. Copyright © 2022 Taylor & Francis.

This paper reports a case study of the manifestation of the teaching-research nexus in a research-active professor's classroom teaching of a research methods course targeting a cohort of Master of Education (MEd) students in early childhood education (ECE). The study was conducted at a research-intensive English-medium university in Hong Kong where excellence in both teaching and research is emphasized. Data were gathered through classroom observation and interviews with the focal participant. Data analyses showed that in teaching the research methods course the focal professor aimed to train the students to become critical 'consumers' and novice 'producers' of research through a 'PBL-triple'--problem-based, practice-based, and project-based--approach, and his identity as a prolific researcher also influenced his class teaching. Our study contributes to the literature by providing a new perspective on research-teaching relationships from the classroom. Copyright ©Springer.