The Secretary for Education, Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, welcomed Tong's re-appointment. He also said Tong has been leading the UGC to support the development of the eight UGC-funded universities in a professional manner.

“Under his outstanding leadership, the UGC has rolled out various initiatives to enhance the quality of teaching and research, and to promote internationalization, knowledge transfer and institutional governance, which have been well recognized by the higher education community. With his foresight, new fellowship schemes were also introduced to attract and nurture talents through research and taught postgraduate programs. The UGC completed the Research Assessment Exercise 2020 under the challenging circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, recognizing that local universities have reached the internationally excellent and world-leading standards in research," said the education chief.

Yeung also said the UGC has launched the Planning Exercise for the 2022-25 triennium, which he is confident that Tong will continue to lead the UGC in completing the Planning Exercise smoothly and to support the higher education sector's strive for excellence, attracting and nurturing talents for the future development of Hong Kong.

The UGC is a non-statutory advisory committee that provides impartial and expert advice to the Government on the development and funding of higher education in Hong Kong, and to provide assurance to the Government and the community on the standards and cost-effectiveness of the operations and activities of the UGC-funded universities.