EDB progressively relaxes quota for admission of Mainland students by self-financing institutions
The Education Bureau (EDB) announced today (February 26) that an agreement by the Ministry of Education (MoE) has been obtained to progressively relax the quota for admission of Mainland students by the six self-financing institutions with the approval to admit Mainland students to degree programmes, and to allow relevant institutions to admit students from all provinces (regions/municipalities) of the country, with a view to further supporting the healthy and sustainable development of the self-financing post-secondary education sector, making more proactive contributions to Hong Kong's development into an international post-secondary education hub. The six institutions concerned are Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Chu Hai College, Tung Wah College, and the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong under the Vocational Training Council.
The Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, said, "I am very grateful for the support of the MoE towards the capacity expansion and quality enhancement of self-financing post-secondary institutions. Following the doubling of the enrolment ceilings for non-local students of Government-funded post-secondary institutions to 40 per cent from the 2024/25 academic year, this relaxation arrangement can help harness the advantages of Hong Kong's self-financing sector in terms of its flexibility and diversity to nurture talent for the country and Hong Kong, supporting the high-quality development of the country, while adding impetus to Hong Kong."
She said, "The EDB has long been supporting the healthy development and continuous quality enhancement of the self-financing sector by providing targeted support and strengthening regulation, including the plan to introduce a bill to amend the Post Secondary Colleges Ordinance (Cap. 320) into the Legislative Council shortly. The EDB will continue to keep in view institutions' track record of operating self-financing programmes, performance in student admissions and utilisation of the prevailing quota, and liaise with the MoE to explore feasible further enhancements as and when appropriate. The EDB will also continue to collaborate with institutions to attract more students from around the world to build Hong Kong into an international hub for high-calibre talent."
With effect from the 2025/26 academic year, the quota for Mainland, Macao and Taiwan (MMT) students of full-time locally-accredited self-financing local sub-degree and undergraduate (including top-up degree) programmes of relevant institutions will be increased in phases to 40 per cent, in accordance with an orderly and progressive approach having regard to the utilisation of the prevailing quota by relevant institutions. The EDB will require relevant institutions to submit reports on matters and statistics pertinent to, among others, their admission arrangements and student support services to determine the quota applicable to each institution.
At the same time, the EDB will rationalise the calculation methodology of the relevant quota, with a view to providing self-financing institutions with greater certainty in admission planning and more effectively utilising the educational resources of institutions. The EDB will maintain communication with relevant institutions to facilitate their understanding and implementation of the relevant admission arrangements, while upholding a robust quality assurance mechanism to ensure the quality of self-financing post-secondary programmes and safeguarding students' interests.
In accordance with the prevailing policy, save for MMT students, there is no quota restriction on the admission of non-local students to full-time locally-accredited self-financing local sub-degree, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Currently, the quota for MMT students enrolling in full-time locally-accredited self-financing local sub-degree and undergraduate (including top-up degree) programmes is 10 to 20 per cent. There is no quota restriction for postgraduate programmes. So far, there are a total of six local self-financing institutions which have been approved by the MoE to admit Mainland students to their degree programmes (including undergraduate and postgraduate programmes).
