Education Bureau announces entry facilitation measures for HK students to study in Mainland higher education institutions
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     The Education Bureau (EDB) today (August 23) announced facilitation measures for Hong Kong students who plan to depart for studying in Mainland higher education institutions in August and September and require assistance from the Government to enter the Mainland. An electronic form has been introduced for them to provide information and documents for the EDB's follow-up action.

     An EDB spokesman said, "The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) attaches great importance to the situation faced by Hong Kong students who wish to study in Mainland higher education institutions when seeking to enter the Mainland under quotas, and announced today the facilitation measures for them to enter the Mainland."

     The facilitation measures include covering Hong Kong students under the compassionate quotas for travelling at land boundary control points between Guangdong and Hong Kong, thereby increasing their chances to secure entry to Shenzhen or Zhuhai under a quota. This measure will be supported by the arrangement of quarantine hotels. Moreover, following proactive co-ordination by the Central Government, more passenger flights between Hong Kong and various Mainland cities will be arranged with priority given to Hong Kong students to book tickets so as to ease their demand for travelling to the relevant Mainland cities by air for further studies.

     The HKSAR Government is also discussing with the Macao Special Administrative Region to allow Hong Kong students to undergo quarantine in Macao if necessary, and for them to enter the Mainland via Gongbei Port or Macau International Airport in order to ease the demand of students for northbound travel for the new academic year.

     Under the above new arrangement, the Government expects a minority of students will remain unable to register with the institutions they have enrolled in as scheduled. With the co-ordination by the Ministry of Education, the related institutions will adopt flexible measures to retain students' eligibility to study and arrange online classes.

     Students in need should provide information and upload relevant documents through the electronic form (eform.one.gov.hk/form/edb040/tc/ (in Chinese only)) on or before this Friday (August 26). Upon receipt of the complete forms and documents, the Government will consolidate the data and forward it to the relevant Mainland authorities as soon as possible for verification of the students' identities and the facilitation arrangement. When the relevant procedure has been completed, the Government will inform the students by email as soon as it receives notification of the results from the Mainland authorities.

     The spokesman reminded that applicants should personally complete the electronic form and upload the documents to avoid personal data leakage. The Government will follow up with the applicants by email upon receipt of their applications. Students are therefore advised to check their email accounts from time to time to avoid delays. In addition, as notification of any result on the entry facilitation arrangement may be given at extremely short notice, applicants should prepare for their departure in advance.

     For enquiries, students or parents may contact the EDB by email (nbs@edb.gov.hk), by WhatsApp/WeChat (5191 3760) or by phone (3698 4466).

Ends/Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Issued at HKT 18:05

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