The Government today (June 20) announced the tuition fee levels for publicly funded programmes of University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded universities for the 2025/26 to 2027/28 academic years.
After taking into account various factors, the Government has decided to adjust the tuition fee levels for UGC-funded programmes modestly by 5.5 per cent per annum on average from the 2025/26 academic year to the 2027/28 academic year (i.e. three academic years). The respective levels are as follows:
| Academic year | Tuition fees per student per academic year for UGC-funded full-time undergraduates, taught postgraduate and research postgraduate programmes |
Tuition fees per student per academic year for UGC-funded full-time sub-degree programmes (Note) |
| 2024/25 | $42,100 (i.e. current level) |
$15,040 (i.e. current level) |
| 2025/26 | $44,500 | $15,900 |
| 2026/27 | $47,000 | $16,800 |
| 2027/28 | $49,500 | $17,800 |
Note: Currently only a small number of funded sub-degree programmes are offered by the Education University of Hong Kong.
The above tuition fees are only applicable to eligible students for UGC-funded student places. The tuition fees for the 2024/25 academic year will remain unchanged to allow more time for society to adapt to, and get prepared for, the adjustment.
The tuition fees for UGC-funded degree programmes were last adjusted in the 1997/98 academic year, when it was increased to the current level of $42,100 per student per academic year. It has been frozen for more than 20 years since then. Moreover, as UGC-funded programmes are publicly funded, the Government set, in the early 1990s, the target cost recovery rate for the tuition fee levels at 18 per cent, which has been in place since then. The cost recovery rates have fluctuated over the years due to economic situations, but have continued on a declining trend in recent years as the cost of delivering higher education generally moved upwards. The cost recovery rate is projected to drop to a low level of 12.5 per cent in the 2024/25 academic year. After the adjustment of the tuition fee levels, it is estimated that the cost recovery rate for the 2027/28 academic year would stabilise and improve slightly to 13.4 per cent.
A Government spokesman said, "Since higher education is different from general public services, as it represents our major investment in Hong Kong's future, the Government has always handled tuition fees adjustments in a prudent manner. When considering relevant proposals, we have endeavoured to strike a balance between all relevant factors, including the Government's fiscal discipline and providing affordable higher education for students, to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the relevant sector as we continue to drive higher education development proactively.
"Since the last tuition fees adjustment in the 1997/98 academic year, the Composite Consumer Price Index has increased by 40 per cent cumulatively. Comparatively, the tuition fees adjustment is very modest this time. The Government also continues to support capacity expansion and quality enhancement of higher education through allocating additional resources. The recurrent subvention in the next academic year will reach around $24 billion. With ample financial support and a stable development environment, the UGC-funded universities have made remarkable achievements over the past two decades. Five of our universities are now within the world's top 100."
The spokesman added, "It is the Government's policy that qualified students will not be denied access to higher education because of financial difficulties. The Tertiary Student Finance Scheme – Publicly-funded Programmes (TSFS) and the Non-means-tested Loan Scheme for Full-time Tertiary Students (NLSFT) under the Government provide means-tested and non-means-tested financial assistance to eligible full-time students of UGC-funded programmes. Upon this tuition fees adjustment, the TSFS tuition fees grant and the NLSFT tuition fees loan will be adjusted correspondingly starting from the 2025/26 academic year. The Government also notes that the UGC-funded universities provide other financial assistance such as scholarships, bursaries and loans to needy students to ensure that no qualified students will be denied access to higher education due to financial difficulties."
According to the existing mechanism, the Government provides recurrent subvention to the UGC-funded universities on triennial cycles. The Government will consider matters concerning the next triennium (i.e. 2028/29 to 2030/31 academic years) in due course as per the established arrangements.
Follow this news feed: East Asia