Hong Kong will launch a trial scheme allowing semi-private schools to apply for expanded enrolment of overseas students in a bid to open the city’s primary and secondary education market.
The government will also increase the enrolment ceiling for self-financing non-local students at public universities from 40 to 50 per cent of its local undergraduate places in the next school year. Under the change, the quota for non-local students could climb to 37,000, an increase of 7,000 from the current level.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced in his policy address on Wednesday that the Education Bureau would launch a trial scheme to allow schools under the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) to seek an increase in the number and size of classes, expanding their intake of non-local pupils on student visas studying in a self-financing mode.
Under the city’s immigration policy, students from mainland China, Taiwan, Afghanistan, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, Nepal and Vietnam are not eligible to apply for student visas.
A government source said the move aimed to let DSS schools expand their non-local student enrolment, as these pupils with student visas could choose from DSS, private and international schools.
“It is the first step to open up our basic education as Hong Kong wants to build itself as an international education hub,” the insider said, while adding that government and aided schools should only cater to locals.
