The Division of Public Policy at HKUST is indeed a great place to do your PhD. Being a relatively small department, PPOL provides you with an opportunity to establish close connections with the professors working on different cutting-edge issues of today. The program itself is very flexible, yet rigorous, which provides you with a chance to design the curriculum that fits your own research needs.
HKUST in itself is a dream-like place for working on your research as you are living and working in a great environment, both academically and scenery-wise. PhD at PPOL is a challenging endeavour into the state-of-the-art research in public policy, and the department puts a lot of effort so that students are surrounded by family-like atmosphere.