Ex-HKUST professor admits taking HK$40,000 to secure student’s admission

A Hong Kong court has remanded a former university professor in custody pending sentencing for accepting a HK$40,000 (US$5,109) bribe and offering red packets to two colleagues to help a student gain admission to a postgraduate programme last year.

Kwun Tong Court heard on Wednesday that Liu Hongbin, 63, abused his authority as chair professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s (HKUST) department of ocean science to help a mainland Chinese student majoring in automotive service engineering secure admission into the master’s degree programme in environmental health and safety between March and May 2025.

As the programme director at the time, Liu was responsible for reviewing applications and interviewing candidates to determine their eligibility for the 2025-26 academic year.

He was asked by a friend, insurance agent Priscilla Lam Pui-ling, to help Lin Zhengxi, a final-year student pursuing a bachelor’s degree at a Shenzhen university.

Lam, 60, reportedly informed Liu that “people connected to Lin” could pay “a few tens of thousands of dollars” in return.

Liu instructed fellow lecturer Leung Shui-yee to shortlist Lin for an interview, despite the student’s irrelevant academic background and failure to meet the programme’s GPA, or grade point average, requirement.