Hong Kong considering tuition fee hike for public universities after over 20 years of no increases: minister

Secretary for Education Christine Choi says her bureau will review tuition fees under user-pays principle, after finance chief eyes increasing public service charges

‘We will have objective guidelines when considering the hike of tuition fees, including whether it is a suitable time and the affordability for different walks of life,’ she adds

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The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Tuition fees for local students at public varsities have remained at HK$42,100 for more than 20 years. Photo: Eugene Lee

Published: 10:49pm, 12 Jan 2024Updated: 10:57pm, 12 Jan 2024

Hong Kong is reviewing adjustments to tuition fees for public universities that have been stagnant for more than two decades, the education minister has said, following the financial secretary’s call to boost revenue through public service charges as the city is set to record another significant deficit.

Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin on Friday said her bureau would review the tuition fees under the user-pays principle.

“We will have objective guidelines when considering the hike of the tuition fees, including whether it is a suitable time and the affordability for different walks of life,” she said.

The Education Bureau said it had spoken to the University Grants Committee, which allocates funding and offers advice to the government on higher education, and laid out the factors it would consider for the proposed fee adjustment.

Secretary for Education Christine Choi say her bureau will use “objective guidelines when considering any increase in tuition fees. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

The tuition fee for locals at the city’s eight publicly funded undergraduate programmes has not changed since it was raised to HK$42,100 (US$5,380) per student in the 1997 -98 academic year.