Summary

On February 19th, China's State Council announced a new development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The plan covers nine municipalities in the Pearl River Delta region, including Hong Kong, Macao, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other nearby cities. The plan aims to deepen cooperation between Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao across many different fields including education and innovation.

The plan covers the period to 2022, as well as setting long-term goals for 2035. Key aims include improving infrastructural connectivity in the region, enhancing environmental protection, supporting key industries including advanced manufacturing and modern service industries, strengthening cooperation related to China's Belt and Road Initiative, and improving policies to allow people from Hong Kong and Macao to more easily live and work in Mainland China.

Priorities in the education sector include:

• Supporting partnerships between HEIs from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, including joint education institutions, joint academic programmes, and joint laboratories and research centres
• Encouraging HEIs from the three regions to increase cooperation in terms of mutual credit recognition, student exchanges and joint research projects
• Allowing HEIs and research institutes in Hong Kong and Macao to participate in government-funded research projects, and enabling their subsidiaries in Guangdong to receive government support and participate in provincial-level projects in an equivalent way to Mainland R&D institutes
• Encouraging young people from Hong Kong and Macao to study in Mainland China
• Promoting cooperation in vocational education, including student mobility, student and teacher exchanges and joint development of vocational training bases
• Creating links between schools at the primary, secondary and potentially kindergarten level, particularly in terms of "sister schools"
• Improving access to local public schools for the children of Hong Kong and Macao residents living in Guangdong

Some of the plan's goals also address internationalisation of the education sector, although this is not the main focus. The plan mentions an aim to "bring in world-renowned universities and specialised colleges" to the Pearl River Delta region, to encourage enterprises and research institutes across the region to participate in international R&D cooperation, and for Guangdong to learn from the two Special Administrative Regions when it comes to attracting international talent.

Analysis by Kevin Prest, Senior Analyst, British Council International Education Services

The new plan will enhance the continuing trend towards greater cooperation between Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao. Although the plan will have little direct impact on UK institutions, the increased support available for research projects in the two Special Administrative Regions may open up new potential for international cooperation, while increased Mainland-Hong Kong and Mainland-Macao links may create opportunities for multilateral partnerships such as joint research projects between institutions in the UK, Mainland China and one or both of the SARs.

The plan also aims to increase student mobility between Hong Kong / Macao and Mainland China, but this is not likely to have a major impact on the UK in the short term as there is fairly little overlap between the types of students considering the UK and those who aim to study in the Mainland.

Sources

1. Xinhua: China unveils development plan for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area – http://english.gov.cn/policies/latest_releases/2019/02/18/content_281476527605892.htm 

2. Hong Kong Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau: Overview of the Greater Bay Area – https://www.bayarea.gov.hk/en/about/overview.html 

3. Full English translation of the plan – https://www.bayarea.gov.hk/filemanager/en/share/pdf/Outline_Development_Plan.pdf