Policy Address

Build an International Hub for Post-secondary Education

158. Hong Kong's post-secondary education is international and highly diversified. Hong Kong is acclaimed to be the only city with five universities in the world's top 100. We will develop Hong Kong into an international hub for post-secondary education. This would bring benefits to our local students and help widen their international perspectives. This would also inject professional vibrancy and growth impetus to our post-secondary education, enhancing Hong Kong's status as an international city and taking our post-secondary education to a higher level. To this end, we will:

  1. increase the admission quota of non-local students to Government-funded post-secondary institutions – Starting from the 2024/25 academic year, the admission quota of non-local students to Government-funded post-secondary institutions will be doubled to 40%. The institutions may take into account their capacity to proceed, step by step, with admission of more non-local students, especially students from B&R countries and from the Mainland, and stand to expand capacity and enhance standard through their high-quality teaching and supporting facilities;

  2. expand scholarship schemes – In the last academic year, some 2 500 students from the B&R countries were recipients of the B&R Scholarship and various scholarship schemes of UGC-funded universities. We will inject $1 billion into the Government Scholarship Fund such that starting from the 2024/25 academic year, the quota of the B&R Scholarship will increase by 50%, and the quota of the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme by one-third gradually, from 300 to 400 places per academic year. These will help attract more outstanding talents to study and conduct researches in Hong Kong. We will also continue with the Hong Kong Scholarship for Excellence Scheme, supporting annually around 100 outstanding local students to pursue their studies in world-renowned universities outside Hong Kong to broaden their global perspectives;

  3. increase hostel places – UGC-funded universities will take forward a number of hostel projects, which will cumulatively provide about 13 500 additional hostel places by 2027 to cater for the needs of students, including those arising from the additional intake;