HK needs to cultivate local talents apart from importing, education chief says
To meet its own development needs, Hong Kong must not only attract talent from abroad but also cultivate its own, increasing the number of international students, Secretary for Education Choi Yuk-lin stated today (Oct. 24) on a radio program.
This approach, according to her, can enhance local students' international perspectives and also expand the scale of local institutions.
A former senior university official recently wrote an article proposing the merger of Hong Kong's eight publicly funded universities and the abolition of the University Grants Committee. Choi expressed that a diversified and flexible education model is a strength of Hong Kong, different institutions have their own strengths and development focuses, and merging them into a "battleship-level" university would reduce diversity among universities.
Choi further mentioned that land availability is a bottleneck for increasing the enrollment of non-local students.
"But now, the authorities have set aside a dormitory fund for universities, expecting to increase 13,000 dormitory places by 2027... They also encourage policies to tear down barriers and bring in commercial partners to provide more dormitory spaces in a short time."
Some institutions, according to Choi, are already collaborating with commercial buildings to convert units and renting hotels as dormitories, and she believes more similar projects will emerge in the future.
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