One crucial policy initiative outlined by Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee Ka-chiu, in his latest annual Policy Address is the project to establish the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as an international tertiary education hub.

Hong Kong tertiary institutions already attract many students from around the world and especially from the Chinese mainland. It makes good sense to enhance this profile substantially, based on long-term, systematic planning.

An apt place to look to see why this is so — but also to see how complex the challenges can be — is Australia. It is presently the closest major education hub to China. And it has, overall, enjoyed remarkable success in this regard.

Australia was well established as an international education hub over 30 years ago, drawing most of its international-onshore students from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. This education hub status has developed dramatically ever since, notwithstanding a measurable, transient decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in 2020.

Australia, with a population of just under 27 million, has 42 universities. Australian government figures show that almost 800,000 international students are presently studying at universities and other educational institutions in Australia. Those same official figures show how this translates into an additional annual income of around HK$190 billion ($24.45 billion). Education is Australia’s fourth-largest export earner. For the state of Victoria and for Melbourne, its capital, it is the No 1 export earner.

Most international students come........

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