Challenges of facilities manager in managing a university : a case study of the OUHK

Abstract

Property or facilities management has become a hot topic nowadays, but is discussed mainly on commercial and residential buildings and relatively little discussion on university campus or facilities. With the passing of the “Property Management Services Ordinance” (Cap. 626) in 2016, there has been an increased attention for the professionalism of housing management industry in Hong Kong. The study tries to close the research gap by looking into the existing practice of the facilities management in the context of university by using The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) as a case study, to identify the challenges encountered by the facilities managers, and to recommend possible suggestions for improvement in future. Along with the research questions, the author looks into the scope of works of the facilities managers of the OUHK and how they facilitate their works with other units of the university and external parties, the differences between managing universities and other types of buildings, the challenges they encounter and differences of facilities management for the campuses under different tenure, and finally the recommendations for future improvement.

According to the research findings, the facilities management between universities and other types of properties are mostly the same or similar to each other, except some university-specific differences or requirements which may be more stringent than the private sector. Regarding to the challenges encountered in the three research aspects, namely building’s operation and maintenance management, safety and health management and move management, budget and manpower are found to be the most critical challenges faced by the facilities managers among all the aspects, while communication, quality of outsourced services and time are challenges that follow. This gives an implication that there is inadequate awareness and support from the top management with regard to the facilities management in the university and the author tries to provide some recommendations in the conclusion chapter for overcoming these challenges. As for the facilities management of campuses under different tenure, the research finding shows that the operational services of all campuses is basically the same as it is supported by the FMU or done by outsourced contractors. However, there are differences on some facilities service and building maintenance, and so do the challenges encountered for two of the campuses (the KHC and OCC), since the operational services are handled and provided by other stakeholders other than the FMU, which is their property management company (PMC) and landlord respectively. By providing recommendations in the conclusion chapter, the author hopes this helps raising the awareness of facilities management for future improvement.