17 hours Ago By SCMP Editorial
More mainlanders are studying at places offering tertiary education in Hong Kong since the admission quota for non-local students was raised. While the influx may underline the quality of education, there are good reasons to limit numbers to ensure local students will not become the minority. It is shocking that some self-financing institutions have an intake of mainland students exceeding 60 per cent of their total enrolment, nearly six times the limit.
The violations have prompted Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin to issue warnings that they could negatively affect their academic accreditation. “We have also alerted the Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications and this will be taken into account when the council looks into the institutions’ academic and quality accreditation in its regular review,” Choi said. Currently, the mainland student quota for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Shue Yan University and Hang Seng University stands at 20 per cent of their total enrolment.
Chu Hai College of Higher Education, Tung Wah College and the Technological and Higher Education Institute have a quota of 10 per cent. Official data shows the percentage of mainland students at Chu Hai College hit 62.6 per cent in 2024-25, up 42.
7 per cent on 2023-24 and 21.6 per cent on 2022-23. Shue Yan University also exceeded the limit with a rate of 23.
3 per cent this year. Authorities are right to send warning letters to the institutions concerned, and to adopt a pragmatic approach in the hope that such intakes may return to the desired threshold. To raise the city’s status as an international education and talent hub, the non-local admission quota at the eight publicly funded universities has recently been doubled to 40 per cent.
While there is probably room to raise the quota among self-financing institutions as well, concerns are growing that the “Study in Hong Kong” brand has drawn more mainland students rather than those from elsewhere. Officials should review the situation from time to time to ensure the goal of an international education hub can be achieved..
