The number of Mainland and Hong Kong students studying in local higher education institutions has increased in the 2020/2021 academic year, according to preliminary data provided by the Higher Education Bureau (DSES) to Macau News Agency.
A recent study conducted by Hong Kong’s Lingnan University Institute of Policy Studies researchers had alleged that the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a shift in Mainland China and Hong Kong students choosing to study in East Asia higher education institutions, instead of the usual popular western institutions, but that Macau had not benefitted from that trend.
However, according to DSES data, the number of mainland students enrolled in local universities and institutes has jumped by 17 per cent year-on-year in the most recent academic year, while the number of Hong Kong students went up by 3.3 per cent to 497.
Still, the number of local students has decreased slightly to 15,928, with the number of students from foreign nationalities seeing a considerable drop of 27 per cent from the 2019/2020 academic year, as the pandemic prevented or discouraged foreign students from coming to Macau for their studies.
Overall the number of higher education students increased by 8 per cent to a total of 36,107.
