Hong Kong Metropolitan University is considering bidding for part of the 100 hectares of land reserved for the Northern Metropolis University Town as a base for part of its technology teaching and research, the university head said on Thursday.

Paul Lam Kwan-sing, HKMU’s president, told a news conference that the preliminary idea involves setting up a technology faculty and related laboratories, adding that any decisions on funding and student numbers will hinge on the local authorities’ Northern Metropolis University Town Development Conceptual Framework, expected around mid-year.

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The special administrative region government’s 2026-27 Budget reserved HK$10 billion ($1.28 billion) in loans to fund campus construction at the Northern Metropolis University Town, as part of a broader effort to speed up development of the Northern Metropolis — a 30,000-hectare, urban transformation project along the border with the Chinese mainland.

“We must first make the most of what we already have, and second, we will continue to actively explore suitable sites, with an aim of creating more space for our students,” Lam said.

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Earlier, the university acquired MU Tower in Hung Hom, which, since August, has been serving as a multifunctional hub for the school’s teaching, research activities and international conference initiatives.

Lam added that HKMU — a self-financing university in Hong Kong — has just 4.6 square meters of campus space per student, far less than the 15-sqm benchmark for UGC-funded universities. Other self-financing institutions in Hong Kong have 6 to 12 sqm per student, he said.

Lam announced a series of curriculum overhauls, among them, the integration of artificial intelligence literacy into two of the university’s core courses for undergraduate students.

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The 2026-27 academic year will bring two fresh program offerings to admissions via Hong Kong’s Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS): the Bachelor of Science with Honours in Diagnostic Radiography and the Bachelor of Applied Science with Honours in Robotics and Automation Engineering.

Lam cited rising demand as a key driver. HKMU’s JUPAS student body has expanded by 58 percent over the past five years, from 10,785 students in 2020 to 17,023 in 2025. The number of JUPAS applicants opting for the university has climbed from 26,302 in 2025 to 30,444 in 2026.

Territory-wide JUPAS applications across Hong Kong rose from 42,916 in 2025 to 45,273 in 2026, official data showed.

Contact the writer at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com