Despite deficit, authorities freeze foreign student fees

The Hong Kong administration has stressed there will be no rise in university fees for non-local students as Hong Kong’s publicly funded universities brace themselves for a cut in the city’s education budgets in response to a burgeoning deficit.

The expected freeze, even as local student fees are rising, is to ensure Hong Kong’s universities remain attractive to international students who might otherwise go to universities in Singapore, Japan, or elsewhere in Asia.

Hong Kong’s Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk Lin told RTHK radio on 1 February the authorities were opposed to significant rises in tuition fees for non-local university students despite the deficit, pointing to the need to ensure the city remained attractive to top candidates.

Choi said ensuring the best students came to Hong Kong was important for maintaining the quality of higher education and Hong Kong’s research capabilities.

“Having the best students coming to Hong Kong is an important factor in the quality of our higher education and research abilities,” she said.

Nonetheless, she said, “public funds will not be used to subsidise non-local students”. Hong Kong’s publicly funded universities would have to dip into their reserves or tap other sources of income, she added.

Choi told a radio programme that Singapore charges international students between HK$100,000 and HK$200,000,” (US$12,830-25,000). “If we suddenly raise our fees to about HK$300,000, what could we lose out on? The best students won’t come to Hong Kong unless we are very attractive,” she noted.

Non-locals in Hong Kong currently pay tuition fees of HK$150,000 to HK$180,000 (US$19,000-23,000).

Choi said: “Universities have different sources of income. Of course, funding will have some impact on them. But we note that they also have relatively sound reserves or financial management,” she said.

“We believe that this adjustment will not affect the education, research, or competitiveness of universities,” she added.
The reserves for the city’s eight publicly funded institutions stood at HK$125.9 billion (US$16.2 billion) in the 2022-23 financial year, with the reserves of the city’s top institution, the University of Hong Kong, accounting for around a third, or HK$37.1 billion of that sum.

Updated figures UGC revealed on 4 February these reserves had grown to nearly HK$140 billion (US$18 billion) in the last academic year, an 11% increase from 2022-23.

City deficit

After decades of healthy public finances, the city’s administration is tackling a deficit forecast to reach about HK$100 billion (US$12.8 billion) for the current financial year, with Finance Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po expected to unveil cuts to education in his annual budget speech on 26 February.

A post-pandemic economic slump, as well as geopolitical headwinds – an executive order from US President Donald Trump on 1 February introduced an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports – will also have an effect on Hong Kong’s economic outlook.

Lawmaker Lau Chi-pang, associate vice-president of Lingnan University, said in a 3 February radio interview the governmen’splans to slash education funding would be understandable given the need to reduce the deficit. However, he said he believed universities would adjust.

“Universities enjoy the autonomy of using their current income and reserves, which can be used for hiring, research, and enhancing the hardware and software,” he said, adding that academics and scientists should be encouraged to secure funding by taking their research to the market.

International students fees

Government statements in the past week are intended to prepare universities for big cuts while at the same time try to promote Hong Kong’s status as an international higher education and technology hub. They are also a response to calls from some legislators for fee rises for non-locals, 70% of whom are from mainland China.

The quota of non-local undergraduate students from overseas and mainland China at Hong Kong’s public universities doubled from 20% to 40% at the beginning of the 2024 academic year.

Lawmaker Wendy Hong, a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council’s financial affairs panel, suggested in December the government should consider recovering costs from non-local university students. While non-locals pay tuition fees of HK$150,000 to HK$180,000 (US$19,000-23,000), the annual cost of their education is around HK$300,000, she said.

“Of course, with the increased cost, their interest to come and study in Hong Kong might be reduced,” she acknowledged, adding: “We can offer scholarships at the same time to attract those in the top tier.”

Choi said the goal for institutions should be “cost recovery” and not specifically to profit from non-local students, due to competition from neighbouring countries.

Freeze would be ‘difficult to sustain’

However, a Chinese University of Hong Kong academic, speaking on condition of anonymity, told University World News it would be difficult to freeze non-local fees for more than a year or two, particularly as local fees are rising substantially.

“It will be tough for the administration to sell the Hong Kong public a longer-term freeze on non-local fees while local fees are going up. The public will call for more equitable burden-sharing.

“But universities are in a bind. To play an international hub role, Hong Kong’s universities need to continue to attract top-flight academics and researchers to the city, and that will not be cheap or easy at the same time as these universities face budget cuts for at least the next three years,” he said.

The University Grants Committee allocates funding to the city’s eight publicly funded universities as a block grant, typically covering a period of three academic years. But authorities have yet to reveal the amounts for 2025-28.

Starting from the 2025-26 academic year, the government will hike tuition fees for local students – currently at around HK$42,100 for the eight public universities – by just under 18% in phased increases over three years, after being frozen for almost three decades.

Choi has said the decision to raise tuition fees was made after taking into account the financial burden on students, adding that 87% of university places are government-subsidised.

This article was updated on 5 February 2025 to include the latest figures on university reserves.