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Joey Li's dream of studying in Hong Kong is confined to a 10-square-meter room barely larger than a parking space.  The 21-year-old undergraduate from Guangdong, who majors in Integrated Communication Management at Hong Kong Baptist University’s College of International Education, paid HK$4,000 monthly for this partitioned corner in a shared 30-square-meter apartment. She shares this apartment at a cost of HK$15,500 a month with two other roommates, each of whom has a private bedroom. The sacrifice is a loss of privacy, where she is constantly accompanied by the noises of roommates cooking or using the bathroom. "It makes me feel bad, but I have no choice," Li said. To save more money, she mainly cooks at her residence and resorts to McDonald's and frozen food.  Li is one of nearly 89,000 non-local students studying in Hong Kong, a number set to grow dramatically as the government pushes its “Study in Hong Kong” brand. Non-local student quotas have been doubled by 40% and are set to hit  50% next academic year.  However, the city’s eight top universities are only offering about 42,000 dormitory places. This severe shortage forces the majority of non-local students into the private rental market, where soaring demand squeezes prices in university-adjacent districts like Shatin.  According to the University Grants Committee, all full-time UGC-funded undergraduate students are only eligible for one year of on-campus housing during their studies at universities.  Starting from the second year, both non-local and local students must apply for on-campus accommodation, with allocation subject to a screening process. The school considers factors such as commuting time, academic performance, and participation in student activities when assessing applications, according to the official websites of HKBU, CUHK and HSU. For postgraduate students, on-campus housing is not guaranteed, especially when the number of applicants exceeds available places. At …

The average starting salary for university graduates of bachelor’s degrees in Hong Kong remained at HK$19,500 this year, marking the end of a five-year upward trend amid the US-China trade war, a survey has found.  The “2025 Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area Pay and Benefits Survey” published on Oct. 23, also reported that the production, sales, and customer service sectors face the highest declines in the starting salary. "Due to Hong Kong's poor economic conditions and uncertain future outlook, some employers tend to lower the starting salary for fresh graduates," said Huang Xu, director of the Centre for Human Resources Strategy and Development at Hong Kong Baptist University, who led this survey. Huang said Hong Kong’s current economic situation is significantly impacted by the new round of the US-China trade war that began in April this year, and that is one of the reasons why the average starting salary for university graduates has not increased as expected. "In our long-term tracking of employee salaries offered by 2,000 Hong Kong companies, we observed a significant decline following the outbreak of the trade war in April," said Huang. The average salary increase rate in Hong Kong is 2.5%, and it is below last year's figures of 3.5%. This year’s survey was conducted from July to September, with a total of 258 participating companies that represent over 240,000 employees. Gou Jyun-lung, 20, who studies interactive design at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the average starting salary meets his expectations for his first job in the future.  "With many universities in Hong Kong expanding enrollment, competition for jobs is becoming more intense,” Gou said. “So, if my future salary can reach HK$19,500, I would be satisfied." Zhang Que, 21, is a final-year social science student who is currently looking for a job, …