Opinion | Hong Kong must reform its degree offerings to attract West’s brightest

Universities must evolve and burnish their offerings in the latest disciplines, from AI to cybersecurity, as US crackdowns send more to the East

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University of Hong Kong students work on a groundbreaking diamond membrane technology on December 19, paving the way for its mass production and widespread use in electronics. Photo: Holly Chik

Published: 5:30am, 5 Jun 2025

For decades, the flow of academic and scientific talent has been largely one way: East to West. China’s brightest minds packed their bags for the universities of Harvard, Stanford, Oxford and Cambridge in pursuit of better teachers, better laboratories and a better future. This has changed.

US and British universities are still magnets of global talent but are no longer unmatched. Chinese universities, once dismissed as rigid and third-tier, are now engines of scientific and technological advances. Western students who want to stay on the cutting edge ought to consider a move previously unthinkable: studying in China.

After the second world war, the United States and Britain dominated higher education. They hosted Nobel laureates and pumped funding into research that pushed the frontiers of knowledge. Groundbreaking studies on DNA in Britain gave birth to the biotech industry. America’s invention of the semiconductor chip and internet led to the electronics industry and digital revolution. English became the global academic language. Talent went West.

That era is over. China is pulling ahead, powered by universities that pursue not global rankings but research impact and the quality of talent nurtured. In critical sectors like quantum computing, artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, space technology and new energy, Chinese output matches or exceeds that of the US and, indeed, the West.

The fundamental difference is that in the West, each university chases its own academic excellence and pursues independent research aspirations. In China, universities operate like a national team. Each institution plays a strategic role in a coordinated research jigsaw puzzle, collectively delivering tech breakthroughs.

Critics argue that Chinese universities lack academic freedom and institutional autonomy. But academic freedom on its own does not build quantum computers, autonomous robots, sixth-generation fighter jets or space stations. The critical success factors are massive funding, an abundant talent pool, clearly defined institutional roles and a manufacturing supply chain for research applications. China leads on all these fronts.