Education across borders in Hong Kong: Impacts and solutions

Abstract

International and cross-border student mobility is not a new phenomenon. Each year, millions of students access a better education by crossing their national borders from less developed or newly-industrialised countries to Western, industrialised countries. These students are participating in tertiary education, school education and preschool education. This chapter focuses on cross-border students, known as 'transfronterizos', specifically those who cross the border between China and Hong Kong for their school or pre-school education. It describes the impacts (and difficulties) that such a movement of students has on various stakeholders, including governments, schools and teachers , local parents/students and Chinese parents and the 16,000 commuter students . It, then, explores some potential solutions for these difficulties. The discussion will centre on the general issue of student mobility in countries other than students' home country that occurs, under the impact of globalisation, in order to access a better quality education and on the resultant inequity issues this creates for both cross-border students and local students.