- Undergraduates at the city’s eight publicly-funded universities currently pay HK$42,100 annually, an amount that has been set for 27 years
University fees in Hong Kong are set to increase from 2025-26 . Photo: Dickson LeeUniversity tuition fees in Hong Kong are expected to increase by at least 5 per cent annually for three years starting from next year, the SCMP has learned.
According to a source close to the policymaking process, the rise will fall within the range of 5 to 9 per cent each year, starting in the 2025-26 academic year.
Undergraduates at the city’s eight publicly-funded universities currently pay HK$42,100 (US$5,380) annually, an amount that has been set for 27 years.
According to the University Grants Committee, which allocates funding to the universities, the cost recovery rate slipped from 18 per cent in the 2012-13 financial year to 13.3 per cent in 2022-23.
Hong Kong’s education minister pledges moderated university fee hikes
In a previous interview with the SCMP, education minister Christine Choi Yuk-lin had pledged that planned increases in university tuition fees would be carried out gradually, taking into account the financial burden placed on students.
She said authorities would adopt a “very pragmatic” approach when gradually introducing the rise in bachelor’s degree fees at the eight universities.
“We will not aggressively increase the fees in one go,” she said. “We will consider Hong Kong’s economic situation and the affordability for families and the young. It should be done gradually for them to afford it.”