Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University, which celebrates its 20th year, is a case study for why strategic cooperation is vital
Last month, the first university jointly established by Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University (BNBU), celebrated its 20th birthday.
When the mainland opened up its education sector in 2003 with its new Regulations on Sino-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools, Baptist University was the only Hong Kong university that took the political, academic and administrative leap into the new territory. Amid waves of doubt and criticism, BNBU, then known as United International College, finally held its first graduation ceremony in 2009 with 244 graduates.
Since then, more than 20,000 have graduated from the university in Zhuhai, Guangdong. And what began as a pilot has grown into a regional trend. Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and City University of Hong Kong have followed suit, establishing mainland campuses in Shenzhen (2014), Guangzhou (2022) and Dongguan (last year), respectively, all Greater Bay Area cities.
Hong Kong universities are rapidly expanding northwards. This raises an important question: how can deeper integration in the Greater Bay Area help Hong Kong confront its long-standing structural constraints, while strengthening its position as an international talent hub?
Hong Kong is, as government officials have pointed out, a city with a unique background as a cultural melting pot of East and West, with extensive international connections. But this strength sits alongside structural limitations.
First, land. For universities, the space required for new facilities, including laboratories and residential colleges, has exceeded what Hong Kong can readily provide. The government, recognising the land shortage, unveiled the Northern Metropolis project in 2021. But in doing so 18 years after the mainland introduced Sino-foreign educational cooperation, and given the time it will take to develop new land for the project, the government is moving too slowly.
Northern Metropolis
Source: Hong Kong Government
Second, demographics. Hong Kong’s alarmingly low birth rate has remained among the world’s lowest for years. The government, recognising the decline, started introducing family-friendly policies to boost the city’s birth rate in 2023, including the Newborn Baby Bonus scheme, which offers parents a one-off cash allowance. Last year, 36,700 babies were born in Hong Kong, down from a high of 95,451 in 2011. Again, the government is too slow.
Third, industrial structure. Hong Kong’s economy relies heavily on its financial, trading and logistics sectors. Against the transformative launch of ChatGPT and the overnight success of DeepSeek, Hong Kong, a city with five top-tier universities, simply fell silent in the tech race. Falling behind in hi-tech may mean losing economic advantages. This time, it is the whole of society that is too slow.
Given this context, Hong Kong’s deeper involvement in the Greater Bay Area is not simply a political statement. It is an economic and structural necessity for Hong Kong to reinforce its academic and innovation leadership. And BNBU offers a case study in what cross-border cooperation can produce.
One, land support: the BNBU campus has grown from a rented building into more than 160 acres. Securing this much land in Hong Kong in such a short time is unlikely. Two, student demand: BNBU’s evaluation admission examination for Guangdong alone attracts more than 12,000 applicants a year, when enrolment is only around 2,000.
Three, educational cooperation: BNBU, which launched its School of AI and Liberal Arts earlier this year, is part of the “1+1+1” Joint Research Collaboration Scheme which unites Guangdong’s Department of Science and Technology with Hong Kong Baptist University and BNBU in advancing cutting-edge research across strategic fields such as data science and AI.
As Hong Kong’s AI foundation is still relatively weak, it must move closer to Chinese AI hubs and reposition to catch up.
For the Greater Bay Area and the mainland in general, the advantages of such cooperation are also evident.
As the mainland’s first liberal arts university, BNBU introduced a comprehensive English-teaching environment and internationally aligned curriculum that set a model for others. With Hong Kong’s reputation and the area’s potential, BNBU has attracted faculty members from over 40 countries and regions, established nearly 100 global university partnerships and opened a centre in Boston, with London in its sights. Also, fresh BNBU graduates can apply to live in Hong Kong for two years without first securing a job offer.
The labour markets and talent pools in both regions are shifting from a one-way flow to a two-way communication.
Hong Kong still has formidable strengths. It is the world’s only city to have five universities among the global top 100, according to the QS World University Rankings and the Times Higher Education rankings. With deeper integration and cooperation, the Greater Bay Area will be a formidable base of support for Hong Kong’s leading role in academic excellence. In the next decade, it could become a leading hub for university education and scientific research.
To realise this vision, Hong Kong must leverage its core advantages: high standards of education and research, a multilingual education system, extensive global networks and an internationalised legal and cultural environment. More importantly, it should refresh its mindset in light of global trends and become a bolder participant as we face the new tide of social transformation.
In June, an Education Bureau spokesman said the government will leverage the vast opportunities in the Greater Bay Area, supporting cutting-edge research by Hong Kong’s eight government-funded universities through research grants.
Yet ambition alone is insufficient. This goal can only be achieved through coherent policies, consistent openness and a compelling competitive differentiation.
The author thanks Song Kejia for assistance with this column.
Reporter: Yu Shiying
Links: https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3334552/why-hong-kong-universities-are-heading-north-mainland-collaborations
