Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Following is the speech by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, at the Global University Presidents and Leaders Summit 2026 today (October 27):
Professor the Honourable Priscilla Leung (Founding President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Association for External Friendship), Professor Dennis Lo (Vice-Chancellor and President of the Chinese University of Hong Kong), distinguished university presidents and academic leaders, honourable guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning. A warm welcome to Hong Kong, and the second Global University Presidents and Leaders Summit.
I am delighted to address you today, a distinguished audience of university presidents and leaders, academic experts and outstanding students from all over the world. You’re here these next two days to share insights and build lasting connections. And you have come to the right place.
Hong Kong, a city of only 1,100 square kilometres in size, counts five universities among the world’s top 100. Three of them are among the most internationalised in the world. We attract students from more than 100 countries, with about 70 per cent of our academic staff from outside Hong Kong. English is the main medium of instruction in our universities.
Hong Kong operates under the common law system, enjoying academic freedom and the free flow of people, capital, ideas and information. These all spring from the “one country, two systems” principle – the unwavering support of our country, China, together with global connectivity.
Last month, the Hong Kong SAR Government launched Hong Kong’s First Five-Year Plan. In the coming five years, the Government is committed to building this city into an international hub for high-calibre talent. This aligns with our country’s strategy of inspiring the nation through science and education.
The Northern Metropolis is also central to the Five-Year Plan and Hong Kong’s future. The main focus of its development will be its three University Towns, which are based on the concept of development comprising campus area, technology area, industry area, and living community area. They will be developed to band together five elements: education, technology, industry, talent, and city development.
At the 2024 Summit, I mentioned that we had set aside more than 80 hectares of land in the Northern Metropolis for a new University Town. Our ambitions have only grown since then.
Those 80 hectares have now become about 300 hectares for campus areas across three university towns – at San Tin, Hung Shui Kiu and Ta Kwu Ling. Together with surrounding technology and industry areas and planned communities, the overall area of the university towns will exceed 1 000 hectares.
Each town has a clear positioning. San Tin University Town will focus on medicine, life and health technology, AI, robotics, microelectronics, and emerging industries. It will be directly connected to the Hong Kong Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone, as well as San Tin Technopole.
Hung Shui Kiu University Town will rise as a centre for applied university education in smart manufacturing and global talent cultivation. Three campus sites, about 26 hectares in all, are open for application, with results to be announced early next year.
Ta Kwu Ling University Town will include arts and “blue-green” elements, supporting emerging, traditional and new industries alike.
These three university towns are being built to attract the world’s finest scholars and students. We will invite institutions to establish basic research institutes and large-scale shared research platforms, including high-performance computing centres, joint laboratories and interdisciplinary research centres.
The towns are also designed to empower industry. We will encourage university staff to undertake research at companies. We will encourage industry professionals to contribute to university teaching and research. Our goal is to strengthen the links between industry, academia and research, enabling them to complement and reinforce one another.
Ladies and gentlemen, in times like these, co-operation, not isolation, is the road to take. I invite you all to find your partner and join us in Hong Kong, at the Northern Metropolis and its university towns, where the future of education, research, industry and technology is being built.
I am grateful to the Hong Kong Association for External Friendship for hosting this global gathering. My thanks also go to the supporting institutions: the University Grants Committee and our Hong Kong universities.
I wish you all a rewarding Summit and a memorable stay in Hong Kong, the world’s East meets West centre for international cultural exchange. Thank you.
Issued at HKT 10:32