Disgraced professor who took HK$40,000 to admit unqualified student sent to jail

A Hong Kong court on Thursday jailed a former university professor for 20 weeks after he accepted a HK$40,000 (US$5,109) bribe and offered red packets to two colleagues to help an unqualified student gain admission to a postgraduate programme, saying his actions had tarnished the city’s reputation.Liu Hongbin was sentenced for abusing his authority as chair professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s department of ocean science to help a mainland Chinese student majoring in automotive service engineering secure a conditional offer for a master’s degree in environmental health and safety between March and May 2025.The 63-year-old defendant pleaded guilty at Kwun Tong Court earlier this month to one count of conspiracy for a public servant to accept an advantage and two counts of offering an advantage to a public servant.