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Education in Hong Kong
Opinion
SCMP Editorial

Editorial | Outreach to foreign students cements Hong Kong’s education hub status

Cosmopolitan campuses in Hong Kong are to the benefit of local students as well as those from abroad and the mainland

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(From left) University Grants Committee chairman Tim Lui, Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin and Professor Dennis Lo Yuk-ming of the Chinese University of Hong Kong attend a reception for “Study in Hong Kong Week” at the Hong Kong Palace Museum on February 23. Photo: Edmond So

Study and travel are both powerful ways to expand minds and shape lives. The double benefits have certainly enhanced learning opportunities for students from outside Hong Kong who attend local universities. It is good to see their ranks growing as recruitment efforts gather pace in a process that raises the bar for the city’s academic community.

The city’s student outreach has been in the spotlight during “Study in Hong Kong Week”, which started on February 23. The city’s education minister opened events by revealing that one in four students at local universities – and about 70 per cent of academic staff – were from outside the city in the 2025-26 academic year.

Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin also said that while Hong Kong continues to be popular with mainland Chinese students, interest is growing among those from Southeast Asia as well as countries taking part in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.

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Starting in the 2024-25 school year, the government doubled non-local student admission quotas at public universities. But Hong Kong’s universities are increasingly attractive, with five institutions in the global top 100 and a record six in the top 200 of the latest Times Higher Education rankings.

The city’s evolution from regional to global leader in higher education was also apparent as it hosted the Asia-Pacific Association for International Education Conference and Exhibition. This event drew thousands of delegates from around 70 countries and regions.

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Choi rightly described the summit as a vote of confidence in the city’s commitment to academic excellence and role as a “superconnector” where ideas and partnerships for the future of global education were debated and defined.

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