Hong Kong universities raise fees for non-local undergraduates as quotas expand

Hong Kong’s public universities are raising tuition fees for non-local undergraduate students in the 2027-28 academic year, with increases reaching 26 per cent at some institutions. Seven of the territory’s eight public universities have published their new fees. The average increase is 17 per cent compared with the current academic year, while the cumulative rise since 2023-24 is 41 per cent.

The steepest increase applies to non-local students entering medicine and dentistry at the University of Hong Kong. Annual tuition for those programmes will rise by 137 per cent to HK$590,000, which HKU attributed to the high cost of clinical training. HKU will raise fees for other undergraduate courses by 12 per cent.

Non-local students in STEM programmes will pay HK$280,000, while non-STEM students will pay HK$250,000. City University and Baptist University will each raise their fees by 26 per cent to HK$240,000 a year. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology will increase fees by 21 per cent to HK$260,000, while Polytechnic University will raise them by 20 per cent to HK$240,000.

Chinese University will charge HK$230,000, a 7 per cent increase, and the Education University of Hong Kong will charge HK$210,000. The increases follow government decisions to expand the non-local quota from 20 per cent of local places in 2023-24 to 40 per cent in 2024-25 and up to 50 per cent from the current academic year. Government figures show that non-local intake reached 27.1 per cent of local places in 2025-26.

Universities said their adjustments reflected teaching costs, international comparisons and cost-recovery principles. HKU, CUHK and EdU said scholarships would remain available or be expanded. Lingnan University had not announced its 2027-28 non-local fees as of Friday.