At least five Hong Kong universities see drop in non-local applications despite generous scholarship schemes to boost competitiveness

At least five universities in Hong Kong have reported a drop in non-local applications for undergraduate or postgraduate programmes in the new academic year, despite generous scholarship schemes rolled out to boost competitiveness.

Universities in the city have faced more challenges this year, under the double whammy of anti-government protests and the Covid-19 pandemic, as more local students apply for places in higher-education institutions in mainland China and overseas.

Three of the eight publicly funded universities, the University of Hong Kong (HKU), Polytechnic University and Lingnan University, told the Post they had noticed a fall in applications from mainland China and overseas for bachelor’s programmes this year, while Baptist University said it also expected to see a decline. They would not disclose exact numbers.

Both Polytechnic University and Chinese University have also reported a drop in the number of non-local applications for postgraduate programmes.

“I think both the [pandemic and protests] have affected the applications, because students don’t know whether they can come to Hong Kong,” said Professor Bennett Yim Chi-kin, HKU’s director of undergraduate admissions and international student exchange, on Thursday.

But he stressed that as the number of applications were usually much higher than the places available, the drop was unlikely to have a significant impact on admissions.