Champion of all-round education
Carlson Tong campaigns for diversity and student athletes
When Carlson Tong Ka-shing took the helm at the Hong Kong Sports Institute in 2012, the complex was opening again after redevelopment. It had a challenge for the new chairman: the state-of-the-art facilities were appealing but takers were scarce, too scarce to fill the 300-place athlete hostel.
“There were not many full-time athletes at that time,” Dr Tong recalls. “Few parents in Hong Kong wanted their children to abandon studies and train to become elite athletes, even when they had the potential. So I decided to seek help from universities.”
His decision resulted in tie-ups with tertiary institutions, as well as secondary schools, to foster dual career pathways for elite athletes. A memorandum of understanding was signed with CUHK in 2017, which enabled the Sports Institute to nominate elite athletes to apply for full-time undergraduate studies. The athletes would enjoy curriculum flexibility to accommodate their intensive training and competition schedules as well as one-on-one academic counselling, and were also allowed to extend their studies to a longer period.
Dr Tong’s push for investments in sports went further as he served as chairman of the University Grants Committee (UGC) between 2016 and 2022. In the last year of his term, the UGC launched the Student-Athlete Learning Support and Admission (SALSA) Scheme with a HK$100 million commitment for allocation among the eight UGC-funded universities over a period of three years.
Chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, explains in an interview with CUHK in Focus: “We also asked universities to grant credits to student athletes for what they learnt at the Sports Institute. Our elite athletes are smart, eloquent and presentable—I’d say it is harder to be an elite athlete than to be an accountant or a lawyer. When they retire from the arena one day, they will be valuable assets to businesses.”
Dr Tong’s contributions to elite sports development in Hong Kong was just one of his many public service achievements celebrated at CUHK’s conferment of an honorary degree on him last month.
An auditor by profession, Dr Tong used to chair KPMG in Hong Kong, China and the Asia-Pacific. Since retirement, he has taken on a diverse range of public service roles. In addition to his work for Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, the Sports Institute and the UGC, he also chaired the Securities and Futures Commission from 2012 to 2018, led the English Schools Foundation and served at the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra as vice-chairman.
Dr Tong believes a diversified education is a goal that Hong Kong should achieve for the younger generation as the city aspires to be an international education hub.
The first step is to build an inclusive and diverse campus, he says, noting that international students will feel more welcomed if the English-speaking environment on campus is richer.
Equally important is teaching, he says. “Hong Kong is paying a lot of attention to research, but after all, not every student will pursue the path of research after graduation. I feel teaching shouldn’t be underrated. It’s not just academic knowledge, but also social responsibility and ethical behaviour that have to be taught in university.
“Another thing is that most top scorers in Hong Kong schools go on to study medicine in university. But our society needs diversity—we should also have talent for engineers, IT experts, chefs and specialists in many other fields. There is an over-emphasis on academic results. Students can have more opportunities in service learning and go out to see the world before deciding on their career paths. Society should also have more vocational training.”
As he shares his thoughts on education, Dr Tong more than once humbly says that he did not go to university himself. After completing Form Five at St Paul’s Co-educational College, a prestigious local school, he did not get enough good grades to secure a place for A-levels studies, the secondary school leaving qualifications that Hong Kong was using at the time for university admission. Instead, the teenager found audit work at a local accountancy firm, where he developed an ambition to be an accountant; this led him to leave Hong Kong and complete a business diploma at a college in Wales, which allowed him to begin a training contract open to non-graduates. Slowly but steadily, he rose up the ranks, eventually becoming KPMG Asia-Pacific chairman, and retired in 2011 after spending 32 years with the firm.
With expertise in mergers and acquisitions, Dr Tong participated in some of the first mainland company listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the 1990s, paving the way for more connection between the city’s capital markets and the mainland, as well as his own journey towards leadership in asset management and, later, its regulation.
At CUHK’s 94th Congregation, Dr Tong drew on his time with the Securities and Futures Commission, the city’s financial market watchdog, and dispensed a piece of advice to graduates. “Hong Kong’s markets are trusted by investors here, in mainland China and around the world because we understand that without quality—without integrity—there would be no markets left to promote,” he said.
“Whatever roles you find yourself in, always stand firm in your values. When the pressure mounts, hold your ground even stronger.”
By Joyce Ng
Photos by D. Lee
