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David Ketchum

Scott Cheng

Hong Kong’s digital education objectives can be truly global and reach many different cultures, languages and nationalities. Imagine a student in Malaysia. Every day after work he heads to his favourite coffee house in Penang, puts in his earphones and starts to learn. He’s working his way to a master’s degree in engineering.
Some day, all this learning can flow from Hong Kong as a regional and global education hub. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s third policy address highlighted promoting the “Study in Hong Kong” brand to attract overseas students, particularly from countries that are part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Hong Kong’s ambitions to be a global education hub can also expand to include remote learning and instruction powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
Hong Kong has many of the necessary pieces to make it work. Five of Hong Kong’s universities are on the world’s top 100 list, with the University of Hong Kong now ranking 17th, according to QS World University Rankings.
The city’s East-meets-West culture and thriving business environment are well suited to the design of higher education experiences for international students. While the pieces needed to realise these education hub objectives are already here, they have yet to be strategically assembled.
As always with education, the teachers come first. To gain global traction, Hong Kong must continue to recruit and develop international and diverse instructor talent. To truly engage and be relevant across cultures requires a global mindset. Even assuming English is the lingua franca of tertiary education, effectively navigating the national, religious and other cultural pluralities is not a task that all academics are prepared for.


The right teaching mentality must be accompanied by a digital-first approach with a high degree of technological proficiency to ensure that platforms and devices accelerate learning rather than obscure it. Globally, less than 10 per cent of teachers have any training or guidance in generative AI, even though over 100 million people including students use AI-powered applications every day.
Understanding and deploying the human dimension of AI applications is crucial. Hong Kong can be a leader in this integration to maximise the value of AI without causing students to be too dependent on it.
Our education institutions have the technical and soft management skills to roll out innovative approaches and advanced teaching technology. Students can learn languages with the help of apps but, behind the scenes, someone still needs to design how the course and the content are structured for the most effective learning experience.
The University of Hong Kong now offers a master’s degree in artificial intelligence and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology recently launched a digital MBA degree, so we are seeing progress in the right direction.

The next piece of the puzzle requires innovation in both Hong Kong’s tertiary and secondary education curricula. To resonate internationally – to have a viable international product, if you will – the Hong Kong government and individual institutions must map out a development blueprint.
How can we provide curricula that resonate globally and equip our students with knowledge and skills for a world in which technology is progressing at a breakneck pace?
Can Hong Kong be the go-to provider of education in every field? Perhaps the city’s most exportable education topics, for now, relate to business, STEM subjects and Chinese history, culture and language.
Perhaps we should focus on certain key education export markets such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Southeast Asia. Government-level initiatives and the efforts of individual universities should first focus on integrating education with technology in internationally relevant ways that match the blueprint.
Technology is becoming available for students across the Greater Bay Area development zone and elsewhere to attend virtual academic courses solely taught by AI and offered by educational institutions in Hong Kong.
The last piece of the puzzle is a sustained international digital marketing campaign. Locating and signing up students across multiple cultures and time zones is a task ideally suited to data analytics.
Our odyssey to become a global education hub can be a smooth one by connecting all these pieces together. The process starts with building brand awareness of Hong Kong’s educational excellence, which will lead to higher consideration rates among potential students around the world. The entire journey can be digital, from enrolment and payment to online instruction and the awarding of digital degree certificates.
With the right investments in all the pieces of the puzzle, Hong Kong can add another “hub” to our list of globally credible solutions and revenue generators to secure our economy and our position in the world.


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How Hong Kong can lead the world in digital education

 Over a 100 million people, including students, around the world use AI-powered applications every day. Photo: Shutterstock

Students prepare to use virtual reality headsets in a class at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, on April 9. Photo: AFP 

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A view of Hong Kong through the Hong Kong Observation Wheel on April 9, 2023.  In the text of the latest policy address, “centre” was mentioned 108 times and “hub”, 26 times. Can Hong Kong’s image problem be easily solved by aspiring to be the centre or hub for this and that? Photo: Dickson Lee


People sit outside the main building of the University of Hong Kong in Pok Fu Lam, on October 9. Photo: Dickson Lee

To be a belt and road education hub, Hong Kong must teach in Mandarin

The main building at the University of Hong Kong in Pok Fu Lam. The city’s top university is ranked 35th by Times Higher Education. Photo: Dickson

Welcome AI, but put Hong Kong protections in place

The Hong Kong government’s move to issue AI guidelines comes after Hongkongers lost more than HK$9.18 billion to financial scammers last year. Photo: Shutterstock

The government’s plan to promote artificial intelligence development would open the AI model and computing resources at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to the financial services sector. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

AI compact proves there’s hope for multilateralism yet

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres (at the podium) speaks at the Summit of the Future at the UN headquarters in New York, on September 22. Photo: Xinhua

A person shakes a robot’s hand at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, Switzerland, on July 7, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

Women learn to use a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence in Mumbai, India, on February 1. Photo: AP

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The city’s academic institutions have what it takes to integrate artificial intelligence into education and entice students from around the world


The city’s academic institutions have what it takes to integrate artificial intelligence into education and entice students from around the world.


Artificial intelligence (AI)

Education

Greater Bay Area

Asean

Belt and Road Initiative

John Lee policy address 2024

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


How Hong Kong can lead the world in digital education

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The city’s academic institutions have what it takes to integrate artificial intelligence into education and entice students from around the world

The city’s academic institutions have what it takes to integrate artificial intelligence into education and entice students from around the world