International schools in Hong Kong are executing aggressive expansion plans to try and capture the affluent mainland Chinese student market.
The students typically enrol in Hong Kong’s independent public schools. Many mainland Chinese parents are willing to pay premium fees for those spots, said a managing director of a property surveying firm.
Seeing the opportunity, an increasing number of education providers are looking for space to expand their operations or set up new campuses in the city.
For instance, at least six international schools have approached a real estate company, JLL, looking to buy premises instead of just leasing.
The government provides special grants for international schools to buy land. However, they must allot at least 80% of the student population for non-local children.
Independent public schools have no such restrictions, allowing them to cater to the increasingly affluent local student market.
The upward trend of international schools buying land can also be attributed to a change in government policy in 2015, when they stopped allocating sites for international schools.
The shift was based on a study that showed there has been no shortage of international school places for foreign passport holders.
“The policy will remain in place until further notice,” a spokesman from the Education Bureau told the South China Morning Post.