Hong Kong’s 2 medical schools to get funding for 60 extra degree places

Hong Kong aims to train more doctors to ease its long-term manpower crunch, with the city’s two medical schools receiving funding for an extra 60 places for undergraduate programmes in September, including 50 for graduates pursuing a second degree, budget documents show.

The documents also revealed a 40 per cent increase in the number of places for computer science and information technology degree courses, the biggest surge among all university programmes as the government aims to make the city an international exchange and cooperation hub for artificial intelligence (AI).

The number of intake places funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC) in undergraduate medicine programmes will increase from the current 590 to 650 in the coming 2025-26 academic year, according to the latest budget and a paper submitted by the Education Bureau to the legislature on Wednesday.

“[Of the 60], 50 will be for the two existing medical schools, namely the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Hong Kong, to introduce a graduate entry track for holders of bachelor’s degrees to pursue medicine as their second degree,” the paper said.

It said the remaining 10 intake places would be allocated to the existing first-year, first-degree medicine programmes at the two universities.

The Post reported last July that the UGC, which allocates funding to public universities, had asked the two medical schools to consider the feasibility of each adding 30 places annually, including some for those who already had other degrees or qualifications.