Study in Hong Kong: Admission, Cost, Visa and Scholarships (2027)

Hong Kong's higher education system is anchored by eight University Grants Committee (UGC) funded universities: the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, City University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Baptist University, Lingnan University, and the Education University of Hong Kong. Alongside these there are 22 institutions in total with local degree-awarding power, and a further 22 offering locally accredited sub-degree programmes, so the UGC-funded eight are the destinations most international applicants, including students from Bangladesh, apply to. Teaching at all eight is conducted in English (several also offer Cantonese and Putonghua-medium options), and undergraduate degrees run four years, a structure Hong Kong adopted from 2012 to align with mainland China, the UK and much of the rest of the world.

Each university runs its own admission pathway for applicants presenting international qualifications, generally called International Qualifications, International/Non-JUPAS, or a similarly named route, distinct from the JUPAS system used by local Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education holders. There is no single national application portal; a student applies separately to each university. Deadlines vary widely between institutions and between admission rounds at the same institution: HKU and HKUST both hold an early priority round in November followed by a longer rolling window that closes the following June to August, CUHK holds a single early-bird deadline around 1 November, Lingnan opens its window in October, and EdUHK runs continuous rolling admission with no fixed date at all. A Bangladeshi applicant should check each university's own admissions page directly rather than assume one calendar applies across all eight.

Non-local tuition for a Bachelor's degree at a UGC-funded university runs from roughly HK$175,000 to HK$260,000 a year depending on the institution, with HKU and NTU-style faculty-based pricing being the exception rather than the rule; most of the eight charge one flat figure across all programmes. On top of tuition, expect course materials, examination and graduation fees, and in most cases a one-time non-refundable fee, commonly HK$10,000 to HK$20,000, to secure a place once an offer is accepted. English proficiency is demonstrated with IELTS Academic (typically an overall band of 6.0 to 6.5) or TOEFL iBT (typically 79 to 93 depending on the university), unless the applicant's prior education was conducted fully in English.

Once admitted, a student applies to Hong Kong's Immigration Department for a student visa/entry permit, a process that normally takes about six weeks and does not require the applicant to already be in Hong Kong. Full-time students at undergraduate level or above at a locally accredited institution may work part-time on campus up to 20 hours a week during term, take an unpaid or paid curriculum-related internship, and work without an hour limit during the summer break from June to August; since November 2024, Hong Kong has also allowed this group to take general off-campus employment during their authorised stay, subject to a No Objection Letter from Immigration. Living costs are moderate to high depending on housing choice: a university hostel runs roughly HK$15,000 to 45,000 a year, a private one-bedroom rental HK$96,000 to 180,000 a year, plus a further HK$50,000 or so a year in general living expenses. After graduating, Hong Kong's Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (IANG) scheme lets a graduate of a full-time, locally accredited undergraduate or higher programme stay for an initial 24 months without needing a job offer first, provided they apply within six months of graduating; the stay is extendable, and a graduate who takes longer than six months to apply must instead show a job offer at graduate level and market-rate pay.