Hong Kong authorities have reached out to diplomats and foreign chambers to attract more overseas students, especially those from belt and road countries, in a bid to diversify local campuses, as the city further increases non-local undergraduate quotas at its universities.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Friday also said that the government would work on reducing costs “carefully” and “progressively” to ensure the city’s economic competitiveness and market stability.

During his policy address on Wednesday, Lee announced that the enrolment ceiling for non-local undergraduate students would be increased from 40 per cent to 50 per cent, starting in the next academic year.

In 2024-25, 17,161 non-local students attended Hong Kong’s eight publicly funded universities, with 12,386 of them, or 72 per cent, from mainland China.

“One thing I am doing very consciously is to encourage students from belt and road countries to come to Hong Kong, and this seems to be very popular [among them],” he said.