An education expo will be held this weekend in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to showcase the opportunities available for students who want to pursue higher studies and choose from 165 universities and colleges across the Chinese mainland.

The Mainland Higher Education Expo 2026/27, running from Saturday to Sunday, will provide qualified students and their parents with information about the Scheme for Admission of Hong Kong Students to Mainland Higher Education Institutions for the next academic year.

The education event is jointly organized by the Office of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs, the Department of College Students Affairs of the Ministry of Education, and the Education Bureau of the HKSAR government.

In the next academic year, a total of 165 universities from 21 provinces/municipalities and two autonomous regions, 20 more than the previous academic year, will admit students with Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination results that meet these institutions’ requirements.

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The Beijing Normal – Hong Kong Baptist University, City University of Hong Kong (Dongguan), Zhejiang University of Science and Technology and Chengdu University of Technology are among the new universities participating in the admission program.

Institutions from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region are also joining the program for the first time, namely the Inner Mongolia Normal University and the Inner Mongolia Arts University.

Of the 165 universities, 157 will set up exhibition booths at the expo to provide information such as faculties and subjects, admission criteria and the number of student places. All of them will also set up virtual exhibition booths at an online platform.

Sharing sessions will be held during the expo, covering topics including mainland institutions’ individual programs, Hong Kong graduates’ study experiences, and analyses of career prospects. Representatives from the ministry will also explain the application procedures and admission arrangements on-site.

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The Scheme for Admission of Hong Kong Students to Mainland Higher Education Institutions was launched in the 2012/13 academic year, to provide Hong Kong students an additional study path after completing their secondary education. In the 2023/24 academic year, a total of 23,317 Hong Kong students studied at higher education institutions on the mainland, according to the EBD.