Geopolitics could push mainlanders to avoid US universities: Hong Kong minister

Christine Choi also says Hong Kong institutions should accept more non-local students gradually to maintain teaching quality

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Students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong campus. Hong Kong saw a record low of 67 students opting to study in America last year, which was 23 per cent fewer than in 2023. Photo: Eugene Lee

Published: 1:33pm, 26 Apr 2025Updated: 5:40pm, 26 Apr 2025

Tensions between Beijing and Washington could drive mainland Chinese students to universities outside the United States, a Hong Kong minister has said, while urging the city’s institutions to avoid sharply increasing their intake of non-local applicants to maintain their teaching quality.

Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin also said on Saturday that Hong Kong’s universities had always been attractive to non-local students regardless of geopolitics, but current tensions could now mean more potential applicants from the mainland.

“There have always been many [mainland students applying to Hong Kong universities]. With many uncertain factors in the United States, parents will have to consider other study locations,” she told a radio programme.

“I’ve noticed that there have also been fewer Hong Kong students studying abroad in the United States.”

According to media reports earlier this month, more than 1,000 international students in the US had had their visas revoked, with no reasons given by the Trump administration.

Such students could face deportation under the country’s aggressive immigration clampdown.

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