Number of Hong Kong school leavers seeking education elsewhere hits 14-year low

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 had not attended 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.