Hong Kong-Macau - Education and TrainingHong Kong - Macau -Education Training
CIA World Factbook – Percent of population under 24 years of age
22.27% of the population is under 24 years old.
Overview
With 7,162 Hong Kong students studying in the United States during the 2017/2018 academic year, 62% of these students are undergraduate students.
Hong Kong’s education system, which went through a major restructuring initiative from 2008 to 2012, is now comprised of 3 years of junior secondary followed by 3 years of senior secondary schooling. This leads to the HKDSE (Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education) exams where students gain admission to a range of post-secondary, vocational, and tertiary courses offered by local schools based on their examination results. Given the highly qualified and sophisticated applicant pool, Hong Kong’s university selection process is extremely competitive. Only 18% of Hong Kong applicants gain admission to local Universities. As such, there is tremendous interest in studying abroad. Under the Hong Kong Chief Executive new policy address in 2018, starting from the 2018/19 school year, the government will disburse a new Promotion of Reading Grant involving a recurrent expenditure of about $50 million to all public-sector schools. This will encourage schools to create a better reading atmosphere, enhance students’ interest in reading and help them develop a good reading habit.
Population: 7,428, 887 (July 2018 est.)
GDP: $267.9 billion (2018 est.)
Currency: Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)
Language: Cantonese (official), English (official)
Sub-Sectors
Higher Education
Many Hong Kong high school graduates believe that a U.S. education will boost their job prospects in Hong Kong. Local parents are also beginning to recognize the academic excellence of colleges outside the Ivy League. This is the result of an increasing number of American institutions attending Hong Kong education shows and vigorously promoting themselves to Hong Kong schools and students. Ideally, new-to-market schools should try to meet with high school counselors and students face-to-face to gain exposure and raise their profile. Word of mouth is also a significant factor in college choices. The school counselors and students are very concerned with the recognizable position of the U.S. colleges internationally when applying jobs after graduation. They would like to hear the internship opportunities from top corporates from an alumni point of view. Therefore, we would recommend U.S. Colleges to invite their current students or alumni to talk about this when promoting their schools in Hong Kong virtual or education fairs. A growing number of colleges and universities are increasingly relying on their Hong Kong alumni as an additional channel to reach potential students as well as donors.
Partnering with local schools in joint degree programs, faculty exchange, and student exchange are effective ways to increase visibility and gain recognition. However, these higher education institutes do take into consideration the uniqueness of the program and sometimes the ranking of the partner school.
Hong Kong parents commonly employ education agents to search for appropriate schools and provide other related services. U.S. schools should consider partnering with several agents in Hong Kong who are capable of promoting their schools and recruiting students. The U.S. Commercial Service in Hong Kong can provide pre-screened meetings with agents and high schools.
Opportunities
Apart from 4-year colleges, there is an emerging market for 2-year community colleges where admission requirements are comparatively lower. Hong Kong students tend to be more interested in community colleges with guaranteed transferable credits to universities especially those schools that can be transferred to top four- year colleges in U.S.
Recently, there has been a small yet slowly emerging demand for high school education in the United States. This is partly due to a desire to opt out of a too academically-focused and highly competitive education system. On the other hand, some students tend to think that a private boarding school education can provide them with the academic, cultural and language skills that might improve their chances of entering elite universities in the United States.
Events
• Hong Kong Government Education Bureau: www.edb.gov.hk/en
• Education USA: http://educationusa.hk/index.php
U.S. Commercial Service Contact
Joanna Lam
Commercial Specialist
Joanna.lam@trade.gov
+852 2521-3721
22.27% of the population is under 24 years old.
Overview
With 7,162 Hong Kong students studying in the United States during the 2017/2018 academic year, 62% of these students are undergraduate students.
Hong Kong’s education system, which went through a major restructuring initiative from 2008 to 2012, is now comprised of 3 years of junior secondary followed by 3 years of senior secondary schooling. This leads to the HKDSE (Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education) exams where students gain admission to a range of post-secondary, vocational, and tertiary courses offered by local schools based on their examination results. Given the highly qualified and sophisticated applicant pool, Hong Kong’s university selection process is extremely competitive. Only 18% of Hong Kong applicants gain admission to local Universities. As such, there is tremendous interest in studying abroad. Under the Hong Kong Chief Executive new policy address in 2018, starting from the 2018/19 school year, the government will disburse a new Promotion of Reading Grant involving a recurrent expenditure of about $50 million to all public-sector schools. This will encourage schools to create a better reading atmosphere, enhance students’ interest in reading and help them develop a good reading habit.
Population: 7,428, 887 (July 2018 est.)
GDP: $267.9 billion (2018 est.)
Currency: Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)
Language: Cantonese (official), English (official)
Sub-Sectors
Higher Education
Many Hong Kong high school graduates believe that a U.S. education will boost their job prospects in Hong Kong. Local parents are also beginning to recognize the academic excellence of colleges outside the Ivy League. This is the result of an increasing number of American institutions attending Hong Kong education shows and vigorously promoting themselves to Hong Kong schools and students. Ideally, new-to-market schools should try to meet with high school counselors and students face-to-face to gain exposure and raise their profile. Word of mouth is also a significant factor in college choices. The school counselors and students are very concerned with the recognizable position of the U.S. colleges internationally when applying jobs after graduation. They would like to hear the internship opportunities from top corporates from an alumni point of view. Therefore, we would recommend U.S. Colleges to invite their current students or alumni to talk about this when promoting their schools in Hong Kong virtual or education fairs. A growing number of colleges and universities are increasingly relying on their Hong Kong alumni as an additional channel to reach potential students as well as donors.
Partnering with local schools in joint degree programs, faculty exchange, and student exchange are effective ways to increase visibility and gain recognition. However, these higher education institutes do take into consideration the uniqueness of the program and sometimes the ranking of the partner school.
Hong Kong parents commonly employ education agents to search for appropriate schools and provide other related services. U.S. schools should consider partnering with several agents in Hong Kong who are capable of promoting their schools and recruiting students. The U.S. Commercial Service in Hong Kong can provide pre-screened meetings with agents and high schools.
Opportunities
Apart from 4-year colleges, there is an emerging market for 2-year community colleges where admission requirements are comparatively lower. Hong Kong students tend to be more interested in community colleges with guaranteed transferable credits to universities especially those schools that can be transferred to top four- year colleges in U.S.
Recently, there has been a small yet slowly emerging demand for high school education in the United States. This is partly due to a desire to opt out of a too academically-focused and highly competitive education system. On the other hand, some students tend to think that a private boarding school education can provide them with the academic, cultural and language skills that might improve their chances of entering elite universities in the United States.
Events
- Education and Career Expo (annual): http://m.hktdc.com/fair/hkeducationexpo-en/HKTDC-Education-and-Careers-Expo.html
- Hong Kong International Education Expo (annual): http://www.newayfairs.com/EN/EventCalender.asp
- Hong Kong Virtual Education Fairs (4 times annually)-Organized by US Commercial Office in Hong Kong. The U.S. academic institutions include as follow: Undegraduate degrees; 4 Years College US Community Colleges; U.S. Graduate Programs; U.S. Summer Study Abroad Programs; U.S. Technical and Vocational College
• Hong Kong Government Education Bureau: www.edb.gov.hk/en
• Education USA: http://educationusa.hk/index.php
U.S. Commercial Service Contact
Joanna Lam
Commercial Specialist
Joanna.lam@trade.gov
+852 2521-3721