The number of Hong Kong secondary school leavers pursuing higher studies outside the city fell to a 14-year low in 2025, with an expert attributing the trend to a surge in mainland Chinese students targeting local universities.
Only 2,671 students, or 6.5 per cent of 40,948 Form Six graduates pursuing full-time courses, chose to study outside Hong Kong last year, a survey by the Education Bureau showed. The number was a 13 per cent drop from the 2024 figure of 3,061 and the lowest since 2012.
Compared with the previous peak in 2020, the number of Form Six students leaving the city plunged by 56 per cent in six years, with Taiwan and Canada down by more than 70 per cent over the same period, according to the 2025 Secondary 6 Students’ Pathway Survey released on Tuesday.
Ng Po-shing, a student guidance consultant at Hok Yau Club and a vice-principal of a secondary school, said the trend reflected a “structural change” in the student composition in Hong Kong’s schools, due to the great influx of mainlanders in recent years.
He estimated that more than 10 per cent of secondary school students were now from the mainland, and most of them did not attend primary schools in Hong Kong.
“These mainland students mostly aim at Hong Kong’s universities rather than overseas institutions, and even plan to work here upon graduation, so the number going overseas to study continues to drop,” he said.
Ng added that the ample availability of seats offered by local private tertiary institutions also prompted students to remain in the city for further studies.
But he also noted that some parents planning to send their children to study overseas now made arrangements earlier with students leaving before reaching Form Six, rather than after the release of the university entrance exam results.
These students were often not captured in the survey.
Excluding the mainland, only 1,412 secondary school leavers went overseas for further studies, dropping by 66 per cent from the previous peak in 2020, when over 4,130 chose to go overseas one year after the city’s social unrest.
The United Kingdom remained the top destination despite a 25 per cent decline in numbers compared with the previous year.
This was followed by Australia, which was one of the two countries to have a year-on-year jump at 7 per cent.
The United States saw numbers increase by 15 per cent despite a clampdown on visas for Hong Kong students last May.
Canada suffered the largest annual decline at 48 per cent among all destinations, with the deadline for the bespoke study-to-emigrate pathway for Hongkongers approaching this August.
The report covered 43,561 school leavers from 445 local secondary day schools. Around 94 per cent, or 40,948 students, pursued full-time studies.
Among the 40,948 students, 46.2 per cent, or 18,934, were studying local full-time bachelor degrees. Another 13,800, or 33.7 per cent, were studying post-secondary courses.
Among all respondents, 2.2 per cent took up full-time employment, the same as the previous year, while roughly 2.6 per cent decided to study and work part-time.
Only 90 pupils, or 0.2 per cent, chose to repeat Form Six.