The public consultation for the 2025 Policy Address of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is underway. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has been meeting with people from all walks of life to collect suggestions and views on various policy areas, among which is that further efforts are needed to build an international hub for high-end talent. It is expected that this year’s Policy Address will introduce further measures to attract international talent.

In his first Policy Address after taking office in 2022, Lee proposed a “talent trawling” strategy to attract skilled workers from around the world to address Hong Kong’s labor shortage and boost its economy, setting a key performance indicator of attracting 105,000 professionals within three years. As of the end of the first half of this year, more than 310,000 applications under various talent plans had been approved in total, among which 210,000 have already arrived in Hong Kong, which easily exceeds the target.

Taking into consideration developments in both the internal and external environments, one can confidently assert that Hong Kong has huge potential to build a hub for international high-end talent.

On May 22, the conflict between the Trump administration and Harvard University deteriorated sharply. The US Department of Homeland Security suddenly revoked Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification. The move effectively barred Harvard from admitting new international students on F visa (student visa for international students in academic programs) or J (exchange visitor visa for international scholars and students) visa, and required existing international students on those visas to transfer to other institutions to maintain their legal status. Just 48 hours after the news broke, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) announced that it will unconditionally accept all affected Harvard students. Other universities in Hong Kong sent out similar messages later and opened a “green channel” for transfer students. The rapid response of Hong Kong’s universities is commendable!

Indeed, in the face of the volatile international situation and the strong demand for talent on the Chinese mainland, the advantages of Hong Kong as a destination for international students are conspicuous.

First, the global rankings of Hong Kong’s universities continue to rise. A total of five institutions — the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the Chinese University of Hong Kong, HKUST, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the City University of Hong Kong — ranked among the top 100 globally in the 2026 QS World University Rankings released last month, with HKU rising to 11th globally, second in Asia and first within China.

Second, Hong Kong’s universities are equipped with the world’s top teaching and research resources, which have a strong appeal to students from all over the world. For instance, studying at HKU, one has a greater chance of receiving lectures or guidance from one of the world’s top 100 scientists in various fields. HKUST has ranked first in Asia for five consecutive years in terms of the number of citations of its papers in the field of artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s universities have jointly established innovation centers with tech giants such as Tencent and SenseTime, focusing on the transformation of scientific research achievements into products. They are committed to better bridging laboratories with production lines, and have been successful in their endeavors.

Third, the cost-effectiveness of “studying in Hong Kong” is higher than that of Europe and the US. Hong Kong’s universities not only retain the rigorous British education system but have also innovatively introduced flexible programs such as the “3+1” integrated undergraduate and postgraduate program. At the same time, the tuition fees are also lower than those in Europe and the US. Hong Kong obviously has an edge in terms of educational cost and time cost.

As the public consultation process for the 2025 Policy Address has kicked off, all sectors of society should proactively offer their ideas and suggestions on how to build Hong Kong into a hub for international high-end talent

Fourth, the talent policies of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government are quite attractive. For instance, master’s graduates are entitled to an unconditional two-year stay in the city. Graduates of Hong Kong’s universities are entitled to an “outstanding talent card” of Guangdong province and enjoy nine types of citizen benefits, including home purchase and medical care. The Hong Kong government has established a HK$1 billion ($127.4 million) youth entrepreneurship fund, providing up to HK$2 million in startup capital for entrepreneurial teams formed by nonlocal students.

The central government expects Hong Kong to develop the city into a hub for international high-end talent. To this end, more efforts must be made and should be focused on the following aspects to attract and retain talent:

First, universities and research institutions should play a key role in attracting talent from around the world. Zhang Xiang, HKU’s president and vice-chancellor, once told me that the university will focus on recruiting Nobel laureates and strive to be at the forefront of the world in related fields. Only by standing at a high place can one see the distance. Other universities and research institutions should also strive to attract top international talent.

Second, to accelerate the development of “eight centers” in Hong Kong, the city needs to trawl for a large number of outstanding professionals in various fields.

Third, a talent-sharing mindset should be adopted. With the one-hour living circle taking shape in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area facilitated by increasingly mature “hard connectivity” and “soft connectivity” between Hong Kong and the mainland side of the Greater Bay Area, the two sides should share all kinds of talent in order to enhance the utilization rate of human resources.

Fourth, the talent strategy should have both short-term and long-term perspectives. In the short term, the government, employers and industry associations should strive to provide their best services to talent, so that they will feel that Hong Kong is not only a place where they can achieve career success through hard work but also a humanistic city suitable for living and raising a family. In the long term, Hong Kong should enhance the advantages created by the city’s internationalization by leveraging the support of the central government.

As the public consultation process for the 2025 Policy Address has kicked off, all sectors of society should proactively offer their ideas and suggestions on how to build Hong Kong into a hub for international high-end talent.

The author is vice-chairman of the Committee on Liaison with Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Overseas Chinese of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and chairman of the Hong Kong New Era Development Thinktank.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.