Number of Hong Kong students at Britain’s independent schools surges nearly fivefold in 2 years
- Affluent parents who move their children from free schools ‘seek better facilities, teaching quality’
- Most Hongkongers who migrate to Britain put their children in state or publicly funded grammar schools
The number of Hong Kong students in Britain’s private independent schools shot up almost five times in two years, as affluent parents chose to pay more for their children’s education.
According to a report by the United Kingdom’s Independent Schools Council last week, 2,357 students from Hong Kong with at least one parent living in the UK were attending exclusive schools, up from 1,538 last year and 496 in 2021.
There were almost 5,654 more Hong Kong students in private schools whose parents lived overseas.
Hongkongers were the biggest group of overseas students in private schools for the second consecutive year, followed by those from mainland China and Germany.
Private schools charge hefty fees, compared with the United Kingdom’s free publicly funded campuses attended by most Hong Kong children there.
Commenting on the sharp rise in Hongkongers at private schools, the council said in its report: “Given the change in government policy permitting Hong Kong British Nationals (Overseas) to resettle in the UK, this is not a surprising finding.”
More than 160,000 Hongkongers applied between 2021 and last year for the migration pathway which allows successful applicants and their dependants to live, work and study in Britain for up to five years, after which they can apply for citizenship.
Samuel Chan Sze-ming, founder of Britannia StudyLink, a Hong Kong business mainly helping students to enrol in British private schools, recently set up an office in London.
He said that initially most Hongkongers who emigrated would send their children to state schools or publicly funded grammar schools which were free.
But some of the more affluent parents would later decide to move their children to the private schools, expecting better facilities and teaching quality.
Fees at a private school without boarding can cost nearly £4,000 (US$4,950) a term, Chan said. Schools in the UK have three terms.
“They may find that the state schools are not good enough in pastoral care and may have problems like bullying and the loss of teachers,” he said.
“Some grammar schools are very good, and universities such as Oxford and Cambridge like admitting their students, but there are only around 163 grammar schools and admissions are competitive.”
Hong Kong emigrant Mandy Lai* put her 10-year-old daughter in a state school that is free after they arrived in Britain under the BN(O) visa scheme.
She had no complaints about the school and her daughter was happy there, she said.
“I like the school as it trains my girl to have independent thinking skills, there are no problems of bullying and my daughter has adapted well,” said Lai, who is in her 40s. “The extra curricular activities are quite diversified and it just costs a few hundred dollars to join one of them each term.”
“I know some may want to find better options in private schools, like they do in Hong Kong, but they may need to earn more here. For me, the school is good enough if there are no major problems.”
The UK council report also described where private school students continued their education.
For those pursuing higher education outside Britain, the top three choices were the University of Chicago, McGill University in Canada and the University of Hong Kong.
For those who remained in Britain, the University of Nottingham, University of Bristol and Durham University were most popular.
