Eric Chan Kwok-ki, the city’s No 2 official, said the change was unrelated to the government’s deficit of more than HK$100 billion in the previous financial year and authorities had no plans for further fee increases.
“Our target has nothing to do with the deficit,” the chief secretary for administration said. “We have not adjusted the tuition fees in around 20 years, so we think there is a need to very gently adjust them.”
Undergraduates at the city’s eight publicly funded universities will see tuition fees rise from HK$42,100 to HK$44,500 in 2025-26, and increase to HK$47,000 and HK$49,500 in the 2026-27 and 2027-28 academic years.
Full-time taught postgraduate and research postgraduate programmes subsidised by the University Grants Committee will follow the same fee changes.
Education authorities described the increase as “very modest” compared with the cumulative increase of 40 per cent in the composite consumer price index, which reflects changes in the prices of consumer goods and services, since the last time the fees were adjusted in the 1997-98 academic year.
It also underscored the need for the move given the cost recovery rate had slipped from 18 per cent in the 1990s to a low level of an estimated 12.5 per cent in the 2024-25 academic year.
While the annual increase stood at between 5.43 and 5.70 per cent, the overall tuition fees would mark a 17.6 per cent hike from the current level after the three years.
The increase will also cover some government-funded associate degree programmes, with fees to rise from HK$15,040 to HK$15,900 in 2025-26, then HK$16,800 in 2026-27 and HK$17,800 in 2027-28.
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