The Hong Kong government has all along striven to promote the internationalization and diversification of the city’s post-secondary education sector to attract and nurture talents from around the world so as to strengthen its talent pool and enhance its competitiveness, the city’s education chief said on Wednesday.

“With world-class post-secondary education institutions, Hong Kong is an attractive study destination for mainland and overseas students,” Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said in a written reply to a related question at the Legislative Council.

READ MORE: GBA is key to HK’s being global education hub

The government has introduced a series of measures to facilitate non-local students to pursue further studies in Hong Kong, integrate into the local campus life, and promote exchanges and inclusiveness among local and non-local students, he said.

Under the prevailing policy, there is still room for post-secondary institutions to admit more non-local students, including mainland students, and we will continue to review the demand.

Kevin Yeung, Secretary for Education, HKSAR

In his question, LegCo member Tik Chi-yuen referred to some experts’ suggestion that the SAR should leverage its strength in higher education to attract more students from the mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to pursue further studies in Hong Kong, according to a government press release

According to  the secretary for education, in the 2019/20 to 2021/22 academic years, the number of non-local students on University Grants Committee-funded undergraduate programs rose from 12,249 to 13,254 in an increase from 16.6 percent to 17.9 percent of the approved student number targets for publicly-funded undergraduate places of that particular academic year. Of them, about 65 percent are from the mainland.

For UGC-funded taught postgraduate programs, the number of non-local students increased from 100 to 124, and, of which about 90 percent are from the mainland. 

There are also more than 22,000 non-local students enrolled in self-financing taught postgraduate and research postgraduate programs in the past two academic years, most of whom are mainland students, added Yeung.

“Under the prevailing policy, there is still room for post-secondary institutions to admit more non-local students, including mainland students, and we will continue to review the demand,” he said.

ALSO READ: On-campus from far and near

Since the 2019/20 academic year, the UGC has rolled out the Funding Scheme for Enhancement of Internationalization and Student Learning Experience and allocated a total of HK$50 million to eight UGC-funded universities. Under the Scheme, universities can flexibly deploy their allocated funding in arranging campus activities that promote exchanges and inclusiveness among local and non-local students, he added.

“We also maintain close communication with the Ministry of Education on matters relating to encouraging mainland students to study in Hong Kong and collaboration of the higher education sector, so as to foster exchanges and inclusiveness between students of the two places,” he said.