Kazakhstan leads Central Asia in student numbers and growth at Hong Kong's public universities

Kazakhstan has recorded the largest student population and fastest enrolment growth at Hong Kong’s public universities among Central Asian countries in recent years, according to official data, while students from the country said the city was the most preferred regional higher education destination in Asia among their peers.

Its council chairman told the South China Morning Post that students from Kazakhstan were among the university’s top-performing undergraduates and that the country’s government was committed to educating its young people.

University Grants Committee figures show that Kazakhstan has by far the largest number of students studying at Hong Kong’s publicly funded universities among the five Central Asian countries.

The number of Kazakhstani students at the universities rose from 97 in 2017-18 to 493 in 2025-26, an increase of 408 per cent – the highest growth rate among Central Asian countries.

CityU enrolled 203 Kazakhstani undergraduates this year, a record 49 per cent rise from 135 the previous academic year.