As Hong Kong is progressing from stability to prosperity, the Government is spearheading at full steam the development of various sectors such as finance and innovation & technology. The need to attract top-notch talents from around the world to Hong Kong to support such development is all the more pressing. For this issue, CGCC Vision specially invited Chan Kwok-ki, Chief Secretary for Administration of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, to explain how the Government has actively made arrangements in the quest for talents.
As a diversified international metropolis with continuous flow of talents, Hong Kong needs an abundance of talents to boost the development of its various industries. In Chan's view, while the flow of talents is natural for an international metropolis, the most important thing is that Hong Kong can have enough talents it needs. “It is true that some talents have left Hong Kong to pursue developments in the Mainland or overseas. At the same time, with its competitive edges continuously enhanced, together with the enormous opportunities brought about by national development strategies, Hong Kong remains competitive in enticing talents, including the locals having emigrated, from around the world to pursue careers or run businesses.”
By the end of last year, the Government introduced a series of new measures to proactively draw talents. They included the launch of a Top Talent Pass Scheme, which targets high-income talents and graduates from the world's top 100 universities, and enhancements to various existing talent admission schemes. The Government's yearly target from 2023 to 2025 is to attract through the various talent admission schemes at least 35,000 talents who will stay in Hong Kong for at least 12 months.
Chan said that some 84,000 applications have been received in the first five months since the launch of the new measures, bearing testimony to the great appeal of Hong Kong to talents from around the world. “Our country is undergoing rapid social and economic developments. National strategies like the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area) development and the ‘Belt and Road' Initiative have further opened up a wide range of development areas. Under ‘one country, two systems', Hong Kong has the distinctive advantages of enjoying the strong support from the motherland and being closely connected to the international world. It is also the only common law jurisdiction of our country. It will thus be easier for overseas people to forge exchanges and co-operation with the Mainland through Hong Kong as a springboard.”
To further attract talents from around the world, the Government announced in May this year the further expansion of the Talent List from 13 professions to 51 after the last exercise conducted in 2021. Employers recruiting talents under the General Employment Policy and the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals to fill vacancies falling under the professions on the Talent List are not required to provide proof to substantiate their difficulties in local recruitment when making applications. Generally speaking, applications with all necessary documents submitted can be approved within four weeks' time, thereby facilitating employers' recruitment of talents in need. Chan pointed out that the Government has conducted an in-depth study and consulted relevant industry stakeholders when drawing up the further expanded Talent List, which reflects the keen demand for talents in many industries of Hong Kong.
According to the figures released by the Government in June this year, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stayed at a low level of 3% in the period from March to May, same as that in the period from February to April. The underemployment rate also remained unchanged at 1.2%. Chan said he believes that the labour market will improve further in the coming months as the economy continues to recover, and that the Government's measures to proactively attract talents would not affect the employment opportunities of Hong Kong people. He added that as society has resumed full normality after going through the doldrums caused by the epidemic, enterprises would take on talents from Hong Kong and other places having regard to their operation and development needs to strengthen their competitiveness.
Focus on “eight centres” to nurture young talents
The National “14th Five-Year” Plan underpins the strategic positioning of Hong Kong as “eight centres” to provide impetus for its growth on all fronts. Chan pointed out that, with the Government's staunch support, the University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded universities will have about 60% of their students studying subjects related to the “eight centres”, and about 35% of their students studying subjects related to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics), in the coming five years.
Hong Kong is internationally renowned for its top-notch higher education sector and strong basic research capabilities. Chan said, "We will gradually increase the number of UGC-funded research postgraduate places from some 5,600 at present to 7,200 in the 2024/25 academic year. This, together with the gradual uplift of the over-enrolment ceiling of research postgraduate places from 70% to 100% from 2021 onwards, will increase the number of research postgraduate places by more than 50%. Universities can thus nurture more young talents, with more resources devoted to research, to further support Hong Kong's development into the ‘eight centres', including an international innovation and technology hub.”
Integrate into and support high-quality national development
Chan said that, among the over 160 concrete actions and measures in the Youth Development Blueprint released in December 2022, there are various Mainland internship and exchange programmes to support Hong Kong youth to gain an understanding of national affairs and our country's development so as to grasp the opportunities ahead. He added that the Government set up by the end of last year a Steering Group on Integration into National Development, with the Chief Executive, John Lee, as the chairman and the three Secretaries of Departments as deputies. The Group is taking forward and steering from a macro perspective initiatives in various fields to drive Hong Kong's active integration into the national development.
Chan stressed that Hong Kong's future definitely lies in its active participation in, and dovetailing with, the national development, and that the Greater Bay Area serves as a good entry point for Hong Kong to better integrate into the national development. “As a core city of the Greater Bay Area and an international talent hub, Hong Kong can leverage its strengths to serve the needs of the high-quality development of the Greater Bay Area. Our mission is clear, that is to strengthen the connectivity between Hong Kong and other Greater Bay Area cities by fostering the flow of people, goods, capital and information in the region. We will steadfastly live up to the principles of ‘complementarity and mutual benefits', so as to make greater contributions to the high-quality development of our country on the whole,” he added.
