January 24, 2012 by Sharon Leong
On the surface of things, Hong Kong is what any expatriate would want from an international assignment; a high paying job, low taxes, stable economy, good growth opportunities, English speaking working community, safe environment for the family and children….. who could ask for more?
Hong Kong, long been the center of commerce for the Asia Pacific region, is increasingly losing its ability to attract top level expatriate assignments due to one fundamental component that the government had not anticipated; the lack of international school places.
According to a Hong Kong legislator, Emily Lau, “an apparent shortage of international school places in Hong Kong could be a disincentive for staff of multinational companies eyeing a potential move to the city.”
This has come about due to the many local parents being dissatisfied with the local schooling systems and have turned to the international schools in the hope of providing better future prospects for their children, in terms of acceptance into overseas tertiary education.
How could this not have been forecasted in the past? Supposedly, when an application is received from a school administration to expand their campuses or to establish a new international school, they are required to reserve at least half of the school places for international pupils. However, the government has not been able to control this. Partly, this may be due to a society such as Hong Kong, where there is a significant number of ABC (American born Chinese), BBC (British born Chinese) and CBC (Canadian born Chinese), how do you accurately define “international?”
The Education Bureau has said the city is planning to further limit the number of local students who can attend international schools from 50% to 30%, thus providing more spaces to expatriates.
Hong Kong, a laissez-faire economy that thrives on demand and supply, has found that the beneficiaries are the schools themselves. Long known for large financial outlays, such as debentures and application fees, an ESF (English Schools Foundation ) school has started a system call “nomination rights” where parents can agree to pay HKD400,000 (approx. USD51,300), if their child is accepted.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong has even gone so far as to warn the Chief Executive that Hong Kong’s status as a world-class city is under threat because the shortage of international school places has reached a “crisis point.”
Cities, such as Singapore, are gaining qualified expatriates at the expense of Hong Kong. Hong Kong has to brush up its act before expatriates are further deterred from the city.
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