Chief Executive John Lee today met Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng to exchange views on deepening co-operation and exchanges.

Welcoming Mr Huai to Hong Kong, Mr Lee noted that the city is home to five of the world’s top 100 universities, with its education competitiveness ranking among the highest globally.

He said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is fully implementing the First Five-Year Plan to develop the city into an international hub for high-calibre talent. Through the Task Force on Study in Hong Kong, the city actively attracts outstanding global students.

Mr Lee highlighted that the inaugural Study in Hong Kong Week was launched this year. The Asia-Pacific Association for International Education 2026 Conference, held as part of the event, was the largest ever, underscoring the international influence of Hong Kong's post-secondary education.

Leveraging its unique advantages under the “one country, two systems” principle, Hong Kong will roll out the “Hong Kong: Your World-class Campus” international publicity campaign and support local institutions in recruiting students from the Mainland and overseas.

Furthermore, Mr Lee outlined the accelerated development of the Northern Metropolis (NM), which will feature a university town as its core focus to integrate education, technology, industry, talent and urban development. This integration will create a strategic platform for high-level post-secondary education, innovation and technology synergy, and high-end talent clustering.

The Chief Executive added that the Hong Kong SAR Government will strengthen co-operation with the Ministry of Education to encourage more top-tier Mainland higher education and research institutions to establish a presence in the NM. This move aims to pool top academic strengths, promote the commercialisation of research outcomes, and achieve mutual benefits.

Regarding regional integration, Mr Lee pointed out that higher education co-operation within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is thriving. Currently, all eight University Grants Committee-funded universities have established industry-education-research bases in Shenzhen, while four have set up campuses in Mainland GBA cities.

Coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao University Alliance this year, the Hong Kong SAR Government will continue to enhance collaboration mechanisms between local and Mainland education institutions.

Mr Lee expressed confidence that both sides would further deepen collaboration in teacher training, digital education and patriotic education, jointly contributing to the country's development as a leading nation in education.

Also attending the meeting were Secretary for Education Choi Yuk-lin and Director of the Chief Executive's Office Carol Yip.