Just as Mark Zuckerberg, as the lore goes, founded Facebook and catalysed the social media revolution from an American dorm room, one of Hong Kong¡¯s greatest commercial success stories in recent years has a similar origin story.?

It was in his student accommodation at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) that Frank Wang built a prototype of a drone, the first step towards founding DJI ¨C a drone manufacturing company that now holds about 75 per cent of the civilian drone market share.

For Nancy Ip, president of HKUST since 2022, stories like these are just the beginning. The university is currently developing InnoBay ¨C a project she describes as the region¡¯s own version of Kendall Square, a cluster of technology companies near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or even Silicon Valley.

The initiative will see HKUST establish a local cluster linking students, researchers and industry.?

̽»¨ÊÓƵ

¡°It¡¯s approved and we just have to raise funds,¡± she said, adding that the university is in discussions with companies to set up joint laboratories in the region.?

Diversifying income streams has moved up the priority list of Hong Kong¡¯s institutions in recent years, with the government facing a fiscal deficit and the region¡¯s historically well-funded universities?beginning to feel the impact.?

̽»¨ÊÓƵ

In the island¡¯s February budget, the finance secretary?cut planned spending?on higher education by two per cent, and, in an unusual move, asked universities to?return some of the reserves?they had built up in recent years.

For the most part, university leaders took the news graciously. In a statement released after the announcement, Ip said she ¡°understood the challenges¡± facing society and promised to ¡°adhere to the principle of fiscal prudence and strive to increase revenue and reduce expenditure¡±.?

While Hong Kong¡¯s universities are still far from close to the financial precarity of their counterparts in countries like the UK and Australia, the government has also made concessions to help them shore up their sustainability.?

Most recently, tuition fees were?increased for the first time in 27 years, while, in 2024, universities were permitted to?admit double the number of non-local students, who pay higher fees than local ones.?

Currently, HKUST¡¯s student population is made up of about 36 per cent non-local students, just under the government¡¯s 40 per cent ceiling.?

¡°We are going to reach this [cap] in a phased approach, in part because we need to make sure we have campus housing for our non-local students,¡± Ip said, adding that the university is on track to hit the limit ¡°next year¡±.?

̽»¨ÊÓƵ

¡°Depending on the students¡¯ quality, the government may allow us to take in even more,¡± she said.?

While non-local student demand is growing ¨C a trend actively encouraged by Hong Kong¡¯s institutions ¨C much of this is?coming from mainland China.

̽»¨ÊÓƵ

¡°From day one we said, for non-local students, we want to keep a balanced grouping,¡± Ip said. ¡°So we want roughly half from mainland and the other half from outside. The way we look at it is that we need to provide diversity.¡±

Geopolitical tensions, as well as immigration restrictions in more traditional anglophone study destinations, are thought to be?driving Asian students to study closer to home, including those from mainland China as well as other major student markets like India.

Asked about competition with destinations such as the UK, Ip shrugged off the comparison. ¡°It¡¯s a huge market,¡± she said. She added that she has recently returned from London where she was visiting medical schools, following HKUST¡¯s application to?establish the island¡¯s third such institution.?

Ip and her team first proposed the idea in early 2024, but the university now faces competition from two other institutions in a government-led tender process. A neuroscientist herself, Ip insists that HKUST is best placed to contend with the widespread implications of artificial intelligence on healthcare and the opportunities that technology brings.

¡°What we want to do is to integrate technology with medicine,¡± she said. ¡°We think this is a very effective way to nurture doctors who¡­[are] not only excellent doctors but they also have this research mindset.¡±

The university has a strong record of developing healthcare solutions with real-world applications. In 2021, for example, a HKUST researcher created a method of delivering drugs to the eyes through ultrasound-assisted diffusion, rather than the typical?¨C and extremely unpleasant?¨C method of a needle to the eyeball.?

̽»¨ÊÓƵ

¡°We need to have more innovative discovery in healthcare,¡± Ip continued. ¡°And so having this forward-looking medical school nurturing future-ready doctors, I think would have very positive impact¡­not only for Hong Kong but also for the nation and globally as well.¡±

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com