Non-local undergraduate tuition at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) rose from HK$119,000 in the 2015/16 academic year to HK$171,000 in 2025/26, a cumulative increase of 43.7%—a clear reflection of the deep restructuring of Hong Kong’s higher education cost structure. The ratio of non-local to local tuition fees for UGC-funded degree programmes expanded from approximately 2.8 times to 3.35 times over the same period, driven by the first significant contraction in government recurrent grants in 15 years and accumulated inflation. This article breaks down the key variables at each stage of the decade, using a timeline approach.
2015/16: The Low Anchor at the End of the Uniform Fee Era
In the 2015/16 academic year, non-local undergraduate tuition at the eight UGC-funded institutions still followed a single standard set by the UGC: HK$119,000 per year. This rate had been frozen since 2010, with only a minor adjustment from the HK$100,000 charged in 2009/10, far below the actual per-student cost of education. At the time, internal UGC estimates indicated that the teaching cost for non-local students was 1.8–2.2 times that for local students, but tuition effectively only covered marginal costs, with the difference cross-subsidised by the block recurrent grant.
Local undergraduate tuition stood at HK$42,100, giving a non-local-to-local tuition ratio of 2.83:1. Immigration Department data shows that approximately 33,000 non-local student (higher education) visas were approved in 2015, with mainland Chinese students accounting for over 70%. Numbers were rising steadily, but tuition had not yet become a regulatory lever.
In 2015/16, UGC-funded non-local undergraduate fees were still set by a uniform tariff, effectively masking the true per-student funding gap. The HK$119,000 figure was a political rather than an economic price point.
2016–2019: Institutional Pricing Autonomy Begins with Moderate Increases
From the 2016/17 academic year, the UGC delegated pricing authority for non-local undergraduate fees to individual institutions, allowing each university to set its own fees based on cost-recovery principles, with only a lower limit of HK$120,000 and no upper cap. This policy shift directly opened the door to differentiation.
HKU led the price increases: tuition rose to HK$126,000 in 2016/17, HK$135,000 in 2017/18, and HK$146,000 in 2018/19, with an average annual increase of about 7.8%. Other funded institutions followed more modestly: Chinese University (CUHK) and the University of Science and Technology (HKUST) gradually raised non-local fees from HK$119,000 to around HK$140,000, while CityU, PolyU, and HKBU remained slightly below HK$140,000. The overall pattern was one of “HKU leading, with CUHK and HKUST following in a gradient.”
During this period, Hong Kong’s Composite Consumer Price Index (CPI) averaged annual increases of 1.8%–2.6%, meaning actual tuition growth significantly outpaced inflation. Government recurrent grants continued to grow at 2%–3% per year, limiting financial pressure on universities, so the increases primarily reflected a slow recovery in cost-recovery rates. In its 2018 Review of Tuition Fees for UGC-funded Programmes, the UGC made it clear that non-local fees should gradually rise to cover full costs (including depreciation), estimating the full average cost at around HK$180,000–200,000.
The UGC’s 2018 tuition policy review signalled a clear trajectory: non-local fees should progressively approach full-cost recovery of around HK$180,000–200,000 per annum. By 2018/19, HKU had already priced at 73% of the lower bound of that target.
2019–2022: Social Unrest and the Pandemic Force a Pause
Social unrest from the second half of 2019 and the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 significantly slowed tuition adjustments. HKU’s fee rose slightly to HK$155,000 in 2019/20, HK$160,000 in 2020/21, and HK$164,000 in 2021/22—a cumulative increase of just 5.8% over two years, or less than 3% annually, essentially tracking inflation. CUHK and HKUST maintained non-local fees in the HK$145,000–160,000 range during the same period, with some institutions even offering one-time freezes or reductions to sustain non-local enrolment acceptance rates.
Immigration Department student visa data shows that new non-local student visa approvals fell by approximately 19% year-on-year in 2020/21, mainly due to border controls and quarantine policies. Universities had to balance pricing with enrolment numbers, temporarily narrowing the scope for increases. However, this period’s financial buffer did not change the long-term cost pressure: the UGC’s 2021 report showed that the average per-student cost had risen to HK$210,000–220,000 (under a full-cost model), with non-local tuition covering only about 74% of that cost.
Pandemic-era student visa issuances fell 19% year-on-year in 2020/21, per ImmD records, compressing the room for further fee hikes despite the underlying per-student cost reaching HK$210,000–220,000 at UGC-funded institutions.
2023 Turning Point: 15% Government Grant Cut and a Breakthrough Price Hike
The 2023/24 academic year marked the steepest inflection point of the decade. The February 2022 Budget announced cumulative cuts of approximately 13%–15% to university recurrent grants over the three fiscal years 2022/23 to 2024/25, followed by a further 2% cut in the 2024/25 budget. The Education Bureau (EDB) explicitly required universities to close the funding gap by increasing non-local enrolment, adjusting tuition, and using reserves. The total reduction for the eight public universities amounted to about HK$9 billion (over three years).
Under this pressure, institutions broke with the pattern of gradual increases. HKU’s non-local fee jumped directly from HK$164,000 to HK$171,000 in 2023/24—a “leapfrog” correction from the previously expected steady rise. During the same period, CUHK raised its fee from HK$145,000 to HK$160,000, HKUST from HK$155,000 to HK$170,000, and PolyU, CityU, and HKBU generally recorded single-year increases of 6%–10%, the highest since pricing autonomy was introduced in 2016.
The non-local-to-local tuition ratio also expanded from 2.83 times in 2015 to approximately 3.35 times (local tuition remained unchanged at HK$42,100 in 2023/24). The UGC calculated that the compensation rate of non-local fees against full average costs had risen to about 83%, still short of the 2018 policy target but significantly narrowing the gap.
A 15% cut in UGC recurrent grants over 2022–2025, compounded by a further 2% trim in 2024/25, forced the system to break from incrementalism. The HKU non-local fee jumped 4.3% in a single year, reflecting the structural shift from politically-managed to cost-driven pricing.
2024/25–2025/26: High-Level Consolidation Under a New Normal
In 2024/25, HKU’s non-local undergraduate fee was slightly adjusted to HK$169,000, and set at HK$171,000 for 2025/26, with increases of approximately 1.2% and 1.2% respectively (based on two consecutive years of published data). CUHK’s fee reached HK$175,000 in 2024/25, while HKUST’s rose to HK$170,000; the average non-local fee under the UGC’s definition exceeded HK$160,000 for the first time.
At the same time, non-local enrolment quotas were significantly relaxed: from 2024/25, the cap on non-local students in UGC-funded bachelor’s degree programmes was raised from 20% to 40%, with no limit on postgraduate programmes. Immigration Department data shows that student visa approvals rebounded by over 25% year-on-year in 2024, with sources from mainland China and Belt and Road countries expanding simultaneously, meaning demand almost fully absorbed the price increases.
The contribution of inflation cannot be overlooked either. Hong Kong’s average underlying inflation rate was 1.7% in 2023, but university input costs—such as laboratory equipment, maintenance, and electricity—rose at double-digit rates as measured by the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI). HKU’s 2023/24 annual report disclosed that spending on teaching and research consumables increased by 11.4% year-on-year, with per-student operating costs for some programmes (e.g., medicine, engineering) exceeding HK$300,000, leaving a gap in non-local fee coverage.
With the non-local intake cap raised to 40% from 2024/25, fee increases are being absorbed by a larger pool of international demand. HKU’s 2025/26 fee of HK$171,000 now positions it closer to regional peers but still below the full-cost recovery benchmark of around HK$200,000.
International Comparison: NUS and UCL Over the Same Period
Placing HKU in an Asian and global context, the decade’s increase is not an isolated phenomenon.
At the National University of Singapore (NUS), non-Singapore citizen undergraduate tuition (general degree programmes) was approximately S$15,900 (about HK$93,000) in 2015/16, rising to S$18,900 (about HK$110,000) in 2025/26—a cumulative increase of 18.9%, or about 1.7% annually, moderate and continuous. However, non-citizen tuition for clinical programmes such as medicine and dentistry reached S$66,650 (about HK$390,000), showing more extreme structural differentiation. NUS benefits from high operating grants from Singapore’s Ministry of Education, resulting in lighter financial pressure compared to Hong Kong.
University College London (UCL), as a representative of high-tuition UK institutions, charged international undergraduates between £16,000 and £23,000 in 2015/16, with a wide range of £28,100 to £41,000 in 2025/26—an increase of over 75% over the decade. Since 2012, the UK has capped local undergraduate tuition at £9,250, making international student fees a core revenue source, with a highly market-driven pricing model.
Comparing the three: HKU’s non-local tuition compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2015 to 2025 is approximately 3.6%, falling between NUS (about 1.7%) and UCL (about 6%–8%). Considering Hong Kong’s low-tax environment as a free port and the long-term infrastructure investments of universities (e.g., HKU’s medical school expansion, CUHK’s Shenzhen campus facilities), the current fee level remains competitively flexible.
Comparative CAGR 2015–2025 for international undergraduate tuition: NUS ~1.7%, HKU ~3.6%, UCL ~6–8%. HKU’s trajectory reflects a mid-path between the highly subsidised Singapore model and the market-driven UK approach, shaped in large part by the 2022–25 grant compression.
Deep Deconstruction of the Pricing Mechanism: The Triangle of Funding, Cost, and Demand
Behind the decade’s tuition increases lies a rebalancing of three forces.
**Structural Decline on the Funding Side