Education is the fastest growing industry in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is on course to be the scholastic hub of Asia as the government rolls out new incentives to lure talent to the city on the wave of academic excellence. Yes, education has become the fastest growing industry in Hong Kong.

Last year Chief Executive John Lee announced in his annual policy address the setting up of a committee on Education, Technology and Talent to promote Hong Kong as an international hub for high calibre talent. And he is expected to elaborate on this in his annual address in September. Hong Kong, he said can expect a shortage of about 180,000 workers over the next five years and to develop a quality talent pool, we will implement reforms to different aspects of the talent admission regime.

Hong Kong boasts 54 international schools, providing different non-local curricula, including those of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the International Baccalaureate program.

Also, world-class institutes such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, the Asia Society, and HKU-Pasteur Research Pole (France) have established their bases in Hong Kong.

As Hong Kong is an international city, besides preparing local students for the future, it also offers golden opportunities for international students, especially those pursuing a high-tech career with international AI institutions in neighbouring Shenzhen.

Last year, about 73,700 non-local student from more than 100 countries/regions came to study post-secondary programmes in Hong Kong and another 5,100 students entered Hong Kong on exchange programs.

And US President Donald Trump’s savage crackdown on Harvard and other universities is being viewed as an opportunity to lure top students and research talent to the city. Early results are promising. Hong Kong's eight publicly funded universities have received 850 transfer inquiries from students affected by the new US policies and have extended at least 36 formal offers in the past couple of months.

Already Hong Kong is on the road to achieving its goal of being a world tertiary centre as it is the only city with five universities in the world's top 100 ranking and is fourth globally for education competitiveness.

The government is attaching so much importance to the future of Hong Kong this year that it is allocating some 17.5 per cent of its budget, or HK$102.86 billion to education.

To fully leverage the distinctive advantages of the post-secondary education sector in Hong Kong, and to press ahead with the development of Hong Kong as an international education hub, the Government is taking forward a series of measures to attract more outstanding talents to study and conduct research in Hong Kong. These include raising the enrolment ceiling of non-local students for publicly funded post-secondary institutions, increasing the quotas of the Belt and Road Scholarship and the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme, launching the Research Matching Grant Scheme to encourage more organizations to fund institutional research activities, increasing much needed hostel places, temporarily exempting non local postgraduate students and full-time non-local graduate students from restrictions on taking up part-time jobs, allowing non-local students to stay in Hong Kong without conditions for 24 months after graduation, and developing the Northern Metropolis University Town.

These efforts aim to promote the "Study in Hong Kong" brand, enhancing Hong Kong's competitiveness and contributing to national strategies focused on talent cultivation and innovation.

The plan includes the development of post-secondary education in the Northern Metropolis (a large swath of land straddling the boundary between Hong Kong and Shenzhen) and striving to develop the Northern Metropolis University Town where local post-secondary institutions are encouraged to introduce more branded programs, research collaboration and exchange projects with renowned mainland and overseas institutions.

To kickstart the project, the government has already designated about five hectares of land for a self-financing institution to construct its new campus in Hung Shui Kiu, neighbouring Yuen Long. Site formation works are expected to be completed by next year, following which eligible institutions will be invited to submit proposals for development.

Those studying in Hong Kong will gain access to tech hubs, manufacturing bases, and the vast talent networks in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area that will provide graduates with superior career opportunities while accelerating research commercialization.
Associate vice president of Lingnan University and a Hong Kong legislator, Prof. Lau Chi- pang, summed it up nicely: "Once universities produce unicorn startups, their competitiveness will go beyond rankings and solidify their role as true innovation engines."

Mark Pinkstone

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For Hong Kong to maintain its status as a world class city, it will have to capitalise on the vast achievements it obtained during the past 12 months. It was a year which saw records broken on the financial markets and education prominence putting the city against renown halls of academia.

The blueprint for its future will be drawn from the experiences of the people of Hong Kong who are currently being consulted for the Chief Executive’s fourth policy address in September.

"I have endeavoured to transform the culture of the Government into one that is result-oriented, works at a faster pace, and is proactive. My team and I have been listening to the views of the public and focusing on serving the community. We are committed to developing the economy and improving people's livelihoods to ensure our initiatives effectively respond to the needs of the public," the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee said in a release announcing the consultation process.

The Government will hold more than 40 consultation sessions to receive the views and suggestions of Legislative Council Members, representatives of different sectors, and the public. Mr Lee and his principal officials will also conduct district visits to meet with the public and representatives of different sectors to listen to their views directly. His address will be, as always, a ‘team Hong Kong’ effort.

Key to Hong Kong’s success has been the city’s financial sector. Already this year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has ushered in a total of 52 Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), up 30 per cent year-on-year and raising a total of HK$124 billion, an increase of 590 per cent year-on-year. This placed Hong Kong’s ranking first in the world ahead of New York, London, and Sydney. This is expected to grow to 80 IPOs worth some $200 billion by year’s end. And the Hang Seng Index has already risen by 25.3 per cent year-on-year.

The government will surely be looking at ways to continue improving the listing system, say, by tapping our neighbouring Asian markets for secondary listings, further promote liquidity in the stock market, attract more quality enterprises from around the world to list in Hong Kong, and enhance Hong Kong’s attractiveness and vitality as a listing location.

The other pillars of the economy, tourism, aviation and shipping where efforts are being made to enhance Hong Kong as a regional shipping centre, will also receive prominent mention in his speech.

Moreover, reaching Hong Kong’s fore has been its education system, not only the achievements of local universities and students, but also an opportunity provided by US president Donald Trump himself when he closed the doors on foreign student intakes by the famed Harvard University and others. As a result of Trump policies, Hong Kong's eight publicly funded universities have received 850 transfer inquiries from students affected by the US policies and have extended at least 36 formal offers as of the end of June. This will obviously involve stepping up promotion of the "Study in Hong Kong" brand to attract more outstanding non local students.

As the only city with five universities in the world's top 100, Hong Kong is an international hub for exchange and collaboration among high-calibre talent. For two consecutive years (this will be his third), the Chief Executive has put forward in the policy address the goal of developing Hong Kong into an international education hub and a cradle for future talent. This will involve making good use of the Northern Metropolis development, with new land, new population, excellent connectivity, development opportunities of different industries and close connections with the Mainland, to provide space for the post-secondary education sector to develop and enhance its quality and capacity.

At present, the Government has reserved about 90 hectares for developing the Northern Metropolis University Town on the outskirts of Yuen Long and the overall plan will incorporate much needed student accommodation, a major problem in Hong Kong where only one student in four can acquire accommodation on campus.

Undoubtedly, this year’s address will be an update of these developments, which are expected to be completed after 2030.

Of course, the address will cover every aspect of Hong Kong life and core industries including tourism, aviation and shipping, where efforts will be made to enhance Hong Kong as a regional shipping centre.

Providing a background to the policy address will be research undertaken during the year by the Chief Executive’s Central Policy Unit (CEPU) which co-ordinates the consultation process and follow-up the implementation of policy initiatives.