A new global ranking of student destinations recognizes Hong Kong tertiary sector’s appeal to overseas students — a testament to the city’s efforts to promote the “Study in Hong Kong” brand in recent years.

However, lawmakers and education observers said the city must continue the overseas promotion, bring down living costs for foreign students, accelerate interdisciplinary curriculum reform, deepen collaboration with the Chinese mainland, and ultimately position the city as a distinctive yet integrated part of the country’s broader “Study in China” strategy.

In the Best Student Cities 2027 ranking published by the London-based education firm Quacquarelli Symonds on July 22, Hong Kong was ranked eighth in Asia and 17th worldwide,

In the outstanding overall rankings, Hong Kong was ranked 86th in the criteria of affordability, falling one place since last year.

The QS analysis said that Hong Kong’s average annual tuition for international students is about $18,900 — the most expensive in East Asia and more than double Tokyo’s. A chronic shortage of student accommodations was also noted as a key factor depressing the city’s affordability score.

In the subranking of desirability, Hong Kong fell seven places to 36th, and in student mix —flagged by QS for insufficient global diversity — fell two notches, to 49th.

The ranking covers 150 cities worldwide, each with a population of more than 250,000 and at least two QS-listed universities.

Boost outreach

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said in his 2025 Policy Address that the city will increase the limit on publicly funded universities’ nonlocal undergraduate enrollment to 50 percent, starting with the 2026-27 academic year.

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Local media reported a strong upswing in nonlocal applications to Hong Kong’s public tertiary institutions for the forthcoming school year.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong saw its overseas pool grow by over 20 percent year on year to a record high, while Hong Kong Polytechnic University reported a 70 percent increase in international applications to its undergraduate degree programs.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology attracted over 20,000 undergraduate applicants from 120 countries and regions, and Hong Kong Baptist University logged a nearly 40 percent annual increase in international candidates for its bachelor’s degree programs. The City University of Hong Kong posted a 30 percent overall increase in nonlocal applications.

Additionally, the Education University of Hong Kong spoke of a “satisfactory” admissions performance. Lingnan University confirmed that the new figures were broadly on a par with last year’s.

The University of Hong Kong said its admissions are still ongoing, with no final tally yet available.

To further publicize the “Study in Hong Kong” brand, the city established a dedicated task force last year to coordinate joint promotional efforts among the University Grants Committee — Hong Kong’s public university funding body — plus government departments and the city’s overseas economic and trade offices.

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Lawrence Tang Fei, a Hong Kong lawmaker representing the education sector, said he believes the government-led branding drives will soon deliver greater results.

Bue Tang said that an ingrained “good wine needs no bush” mindset — the idea that anything of high quality does not need to be advertised — at the institutional level remains a key obstacle to the sector’s proactive outreach, and must be uprooted before universities will commit to scaled, regularized road-show-style overseas promotions.

Tang also called on universities to enhance global alumni networks, with dedicated chapters to engage high-level political and business figures in strategic economics to sustain long-term ties.

Luke Yick Tak-Ming, president of the Hong Kong University Education Alumni Association, also championed the idea, adding that the current reality is far from organized.

“Chapters abroad are mostly loose. Regular alumni gatherings mostly happen only on the Chinese mainland,” leaving a rich vein of high-caliber alumni resources largely untapped, he said.

Tang and Yick both said that international students returning to their places of origin after graduation should not be counted as a loss to the city. Rather, they can carry Hong Kong’s academic standards and institutional reputation back to their hometowns, seeding an organic, self-sustaining promotional base for the brand.

Affordability, livability gaps

Increased overseas promotion and smarter alumni engagement could help attract a more diverse student body, but to elevate Hong Kong’s appeal as a study destination and create a lasting, virtuous cycle of reputation, the city must move quickly to reduce student living costs, they said.

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For example, Chen Ziyu is an undergraduate student at Hong Kong Baptist University. He was enrolled in the 2023-24 school year, paid HK$160,000 ($20,400) a year in tuition. By 2026-27, new admissions will face expenses of HK$190,000 annually. Monthly food expenses at HK$5,000 are nearly twice what he would have spent studying on the mainland.

Accommodation hits harder. QS said that of Hong Kong’s 192,000 full-time students, universities can offer only 44,000 on-campus bed places.

Chen had moved from a dormitory to a university-run long-stay hotel. When he had to move again this year, he spent months scouring the city’s rental market before finally signing at an off-campus apartment block launched by HKBU in partnership with a private developer in Kwai Chung.

The off-campus apartment offers about 205 bed places, with a twin room costing about HK$70,000 per year.

“Nonlocal students are generally willing to pay for a university-endorsed place,” he said. A pricewise comparable single room in the open rental market would typically mean settling for an aging tenement building, with the risks of subletting irregularities and impenetrable leases.

Hong Kong’s Development Bureau and Education Bureau launched the “Hostels in the City Scheme” in July 2025 to relax building-use regulations and encourage the conversion of commercial premises into student hostels through self-financed or private-sector initiatives. The program has since been broadened to include newly built projects.

By the end of June, the Education Bureau had received 40 applications, expected to provide about 9,100 hostel places. Thirty-eight have been approved, and four projects are slated for completion before September, the beginning of the new semester.

Tang said the regulatory easing will attract market interest. “We expect the figures to keep improving.”

Job prospects, mainland synergy key

Looking to Hong Kong’s longer-term capacity-building as a study city, Tang and Yick said they hope Hong Kong can offer better job prospects for graduates through future-oriented interdisciplinary curricula, and to foster real synergy with the mainland’s top universities.

Tang saw Hong Kong’s future as a premium study destination to offer graduates world-class technology and entrepreneurship opportunities, as the city’s Northern Metropolis begins to take shape as a platform for integrated development of education, enterprise, talent and industry.

“For global talent who want to build tech startups, Hong Kong is set to become one of the best places in the world to do so,” he said.

For this vision to materialize, Hong Kong’s universities must further dismantle the old silos between faculties to meet the growing demands of the artificial intelligence and innovation era for cross-disciplinary talent, Tang added.

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Yick, who also heads the HKU Education Alumni Foundation and has spent recent years cultivating ties with Hong Kong-based diplomatic missions, said the tech-entrepreneurship potential in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area holds real appeal.

Many families from economies engaged in the Belt and Road Initiative rank Hong Kong and the mainland as priority study destinations because they acknowledge the country’s fast-growing technological strength, he said.

Mainland and Hong Kong higher education systems have complementary advantages: the former excels in technology applications, while the latter offers polished, globally minded programs in business, management, and communications, he added.

The dual-track study route will equip graduates with a competitive edge whether they hope to start a business at home or build a career in Hong Kong, said Yick.

Yick too singled out Northern Metropolis as the linchpin. He said authorities should proactively attract leading mainland science and technology universities to set up satellite campuses there, better aligning Hong Kong’ overseas-student-attraction endeavor with the nation’s “Study in China” campaign.

Roys Zhang contributed to the story.

Contact the writer at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com