On Oct. 19, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu released his first Policy Address since he took office on July 1, 2022. The report focused on importing talent and housing policies. The “Top Talent Pass Scheme” will be launched to attract talent from abroad. At the same time, he proposed to increase about 1,600 University Grants Committee-funded (UGC) research postgraduate positions. Lee said that many of his measures are groundbreaking and focused, and he believes that the policy goal of introducing 35,000 qualified people every year can be achieved. Some political parties believe that the authorities have not paid enough attention to stopping the brain drain that is occurring since the National Security Law went into effect, describing the phenomenon as a failure.
About 140,000 Workers Lost in Last Two Years
Lee admitted that Hong Kong has lost about 140,000 people from the labor force in the past two years. The authorities intend to actively cultivate and retain local talent while attracting qualified foreign workers. There are several high-profile measures, such as, the Top Talent Pass Scheme, which offers an annual salary of HK$2.5 million (about $318,484) and encourages graduates of the world’s top 100 universities to pursue a career in Hong Kong.In terms of nurturing local talent, Lee proposed to add about 1,600 UGC-funded research postgraduate positions; to step up STEAM education, including implementing enriched coding education for the upper primary, and introducing I&T elements, such as, Artificial Intelligence for the junior secondary; at the same time, promoting vocational and professional education and training, including adding 2,000 subsidized slots for self-financing a higher diploma and 1,000 for undergraduate programmes, and potentially adding more applied degree programmes.
