As stated in another China Daily piece: “The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is positioning itself as a destination for academics and students potentially locked out of United States tertiary institutions.”

Traditionally, the US has been one of the most sought-after destinations for higher education in the world. No politics should get in the way of the facts; America’s prestige in higher education has been thoroughly earned through the competitive work culture that has fostered it as a scientific and technological giant.

There is no shame in the fact that many people, including from China, had longed to study in America because of its rich and expansive resources, with institutions such as Harvard University leading the world. Personally, I did not choose to study in the US, primarily because I am British and had many world-leading institutions on my doorstep, as well as of course spending some time at the University of Hong Kong (HKU).

Still, America’s competitiveness was undeniable. However, recent political trends have increasingly called that into question; namely, by the presidential administration’s relentless assault on the country’s prestigious institutions driven by the petty confines of domestic “culture war politics”. US President Donald Trump is the cornerstone of a populist movement, one which thoroughly resents America’s educated, elite, which the movement has come to believe stands contrary to its own values. The Trump base is anti-elite and anti-expert. They believe these institutions are out of touch with the common man.

We will not take a side on the specifics, but will continue in noting the administration has subsequently unleashed an all-out campaign against universities such as Harvard, which has included jamming student visa applications, arresting and deporting international students, instigating a policy of politically motivated denials, and cutting funding. Irrespective of where you stand, Trump is driving a dagger through the heart of America’s educational prestige and making the country an unwelcome place for study. If the US wants to compete with China, dismantling Harvard out of political grievances is not one way to do it.

Hong Kong is becoming a refuge from the anti-intellectual policies of the Trump presidency, and it’s more than readily equipped to handle them

Thus, international students, especially Chinese ones, will be seeking out new places to study amid the hostility in the air, and where is one location that fits the bill? Hong Kong. Now, for consideration, yes, the city is being subject to a long-standing negative media campaign that has also tried to frame it as somewhere “unwelcome” or “unsafe” because of geopolitics. However, this does not correlate with the reality on the ground. The HKU, which I went to, is as I cited before from the QS World University Rankings, has the 11th-highest ranked institution globally, the second-highest in Asia, and the highest in China.

Alongside HKU, I note that four other Hong Kong institutions appeared in the top world 100 respectively. I spent a year at HKU from 2015-16 on exchange from Durham University. This was a tremendous experience, which opened my doorways to China and Asia, giving me a cultural and geopolitical perspective. Thus, Hong Kong continues to be an educational and research powerhouse both continentally and globally by its own merits. Therefore, it is a natural and recommended alternative for students who wish to choose somewhere else amid the chaos of the US. Hong Kong continues to be a world-class city, with tremendous infrastructure, academic resources, a culture of industriousness and diligence, and serving as a gateway to the Chinese world. The radical student culture I encountered on campus during my time there, who sought to deny the city was part of China, no longer exists; however, this does not mean that the academic work has in any way been undermined, as the evidence shows.

Rather, Hong Kong is a place where people committed to serious study and research will thrive, and none of this is speculative. As another article quotes: “Hong Kong’s eight publicly funded universities had received 850 transfer inquiries from students affected by US policies, and extended at least 36 formal offers as of the end of June.” The media told us that the end of Hong Kong was coming, that its decline was sure. Instead, Hong Kong is becoming a refuge from the anti-intellectual policies of the Trump presidency, and it’s more than readily equipped to handle them.

The author is a British political and international-relations analyst.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.