Hong Kong’s subsidised public university fees lagging behind rising bachelor’s degree costs, but hike unlikely to be implemented soon
- Cost borne by students – also known as ‘recovery rate’ – slips from 18 per cent of fees to 13 per cent, prompting review
- Tuition fee increase does not appear imminent as government has said any hike would have to come after 2025
Tuition fees at Hong Kong’s public universities have not kept up with the overall rising costs of bachelor's degree programmes over the past decade, the Post has found.
Fees paid by students are expected to cover 18 per cent of the expense of their courses borne by the university, but that share – also known as the “cost recovery rate” – has fallen to as low as 13 per cent.
The Education Bureau has said it will review the fees, but any hike is unlikely to be implemented before the 2025-26 academic year at the earliest, as the government pledged in 2022 there would be no change until 2024-25.
The University Grants Committee (UGC), which allocates funding to the city’s eight public universities, told the Post the cost recovery rates had slipped over the past decade from 18 per cent in 2012-13 to 13.3 per cent in 2022-23.
The 18 per cent recovery rate was set in 1991 and meant students in government-funded undergraduate courses would pay almost a fifth of the cost of their programmes.
Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin said earlier this month that her bureau would review all fees under the user-pays principle, but would keep in mind the timing of a hike and whether students of different backgrounds could afford it.
The annual fee for local students at the eight publicly funded universities has remained at HK$42,100 (US$5,380) since the 1997 -98 academic year.