Bay Area Education Backed

Financial Secretary Paul Chan

Like Lingnan, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is committed to nurturing our youth. They are, after all, Hong Kong's future business, community and government leaders and innovators. And quality education is the key to ensuring that we have all the talent we need and deserve.

That is why, in my recent Budget, I put aside well over $100 billion to meet our recurrent expenditure on education. That, ladies and gentlemen, accounts for nearly 20% of our total recurrent expenditure.

As for university spending, this Government has invested nearly $30 billion in a variety of policy measures to boost academic research. In addition, $26 billion has been made available to upgrade or build new teaching and research-related facilities.

We are building for our youth, and for the future. And that future will, thanks to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Development, greatly expand our opportunities and horizons, taking us from our domestic market from 7.5 million people to a market of more than 86 million people.

Those opportunities will extend to education. And the Government supports our post-secondary institutions in offering educational services in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Creating educational partnerships there to showcase the manifold strengths of our tertiary institutions, while demonstrating Hong Kong's far-reaching promise as an education hub for the region and beyond.

So you have to know I was pleased to hear that Lingnan University recently signed a Letter of Intent on Collaboration with Shenzhen University. Your academic co-operation will include the offering of shared programmes, research and development projects, even the possibility of establishing a joint campus in the bay area.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan gave these remarks at the Lingnan University Gala Dinner 2021 on October 28.