The new Chief Executive of Hong Kong has outlined education sector policy and funding priorities in her first week of office.
The most controversial policy area is national education, i.e. curriculum in primary and secondary schools that aims to develop national identity and patriotism towards China. This was dropped in 2012 among widespread criticism, however now appears to be being revisited. Chinese President Xi Jinping stated that this is a priority during his visit to Hong Kong to inaugurate Chief Executive Carrie Lam last week, and comes amid a context of fears of an erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy.
Another significant point is increased education spending, recently quoted as an additional HK$5billion on top of the existing HK$75billion budget. According to the chief executive a significant portion of this will be spent on subsidies for students taking self-funded undergraduate degree courses.
Other policies that were covered include promoting teachers professional development, promoting vocational education, subsidies for building student accommodation and adding new teaching positions.

Commentary by Steve Corry, British Council Hong Kong (steven.corry@britishcouncil.org.hk):

Fears of an erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy, and therefore fears about Hong Kong’s future, is one factor which may have contributed to upholding the number of students studying abroad in the last few years. This is a controversial topic for the new Chief Executive to be tackling, and renewed controversy will likely give parents continued doubts about the suitability of the local education system and leading many to continue looking abroad. Families may view an overseas education as an insurance policy to safeguard their children’s future prospects.
Increased funding for students studying degree programmes in the self-funded sector will come to the relief of some students who are unable to secure a place in the public funded sector. This may be good news for institutions offering UK TNE programmes. This should not have much direct impact on student mobility to the UK, as students benefitting from this measure would not have the means to study in an English speaking country, and their alternative choices would be to study in Taiwan or Mainland China.

Sources:
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/07/05/video-chief-exec-carrie-lam-lays-h...
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2101358/hong-kong-le...