◆ INTERNATIONAL Image: Hong Kong anti-extradition rally, June 2019 Etan Liam
Exodus hits Hong Kong universities as professors and students leave The number of students who quit their studies at Hong Kong’s eight government-funded universities in the last academic year jumped by a record 24% over the year before, official figures show, while separate figures showed around 290 academic staff left the eight public universities in the past year. This is far higher than the numbers reaching retirement age. Hong Kong’s University Grants Committee (UGC), which distributes government money to public higher education institutions, this month revealed the latest figures for the number of students who discontinued their studies in the 2020-21 academic year. A total of 2,212 students, or 2.6% of about 85,000 full-time undergraduates, left university midway through their degree program, up sharply from the 1,779, or 2.1% of the total, recorded the year before.
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The number of departures from universities is the highest since 2003 – the earliest year for which the figures are available. The dropout rate has increased since the introduction of the National Security Law imposed on Hong Kong in July 2020, but large numbers also dropped out due to the coronavirus pandemic when universities closed and classes were shifted online.
