PolyU tuition 2025: non-local fee at 200k, with research-postgraduate funding guide

This article covers undergraduate tuition fees, deposit and miscellaneous charges, government fee adjustments, and admission scholarships at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Tuition figures date quickly — every amount is tagged with its applicable academic year; always check the University's latest official announcements. The data mainly covers the 2025/26 and 2026/27 academic years. All amounts are in Hong Kong dollars (HK$). Last updated: June 2026.

At PolyU, money flows in two opposite directions. One stream is what students pay in — tuition, the admission deposit, and miscellaneous fees. The other is what the University and its donors pay out — scholarships. Local students pay a heavily subsidised fee because they hold UGC-funded places; non-local students (including mainland-China gaokao self-funded students) pay close to the full cost, and that figure has risen year on year since 2025. This article is arranged in four sections — local tuition, non-local tuition, miscellaneous fees, and scholarships — with every figure tied to a year and a source.

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# 1. Local Student Tuition: Frozen for a Quarter-Century, Then Three Years of Modest Rises from 2025

Local students at PolyU (as at the other seven UGC-funded universities in Hong Kong) take UGC-funded programmes, whose fees are set centrally by the government and have long sat far below the cost of delivering the education.

As announced in aHong Kong government press release (20 June 2024)^※, tuition for UGC-funded full-time undergraduate, taught postgraduate and research postgraduate programmes will rise from the current HK$42,100 per year to HK$44,500, HK$47,000 and HK$49,500 in the 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28 academic years respectively — an average increase of about 5.5% per year.

How did the freeze last so long? According to thesame press release^※, the fee had stood at this level since 1997/98, during which time Hong Kong's Composite Consumer Price Index rose cumulatively by about 40%. The release adds that the cost recovery ratio for UGC-funded places was projected to fall to about 12.5% in 2024/25; this round of increases targets a recovery of about 13.4% by 2027/28 (against the original policy target of 18%) — in other words, tuition still covers barely a tenth of the cost of provision, with the remaining nine-tenths borne by the public purse.

PolyU's undergraduate admissions pages confirm the local tuition rate as HK$47,000 per year (per thePolyU JUPAS tuition-fees page^※, for 2026/27). New local students must pay an admission deposit of HK$5,000 upon accepting an offer; it is credited towards the first-semester tuition fee and is non-refundable (same page).

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# 2. Non-Local / International Student Tuition: First Rise in Seven Years, Then Year on Year Upward

The counterpoint to local fees is what non-local students (international students, mainland gaokao self-funded students, etc.) pay: the same programmes, but almost entirely at their own expense — and the figure has risen annually since 2025.

PolyU's official pages now list the non-local tuition fee as HK$200,000 per year (2026/27; approx. US$25,641), payable in two instalments before the start of each semester (per thePolyU International & Other Qualifications · tuition page^※ and thePolyU JUPAS tuition-fees page^※); the non-local fee for 2025/26 was HK$175,000 (per thePolyU mainland gaokao · government-funded programmes tuition page^※).

The background to all eight universities raising non-local fees in 2025: According to aHK01 report of 14 January 2025^※, the eight UGC-funded universities raised non-local undergraduate fees across the board for the first time, by between 6.3% and 22.8%. PolyU's rose from HK$160,000 to HK$175,000, an increase of about 9.4% (media-compiled figure). The common official rationale cited by all institutions was inflation and rising teaching costs.

Mainland gaokao self-funded students pay at the non-local rate: According to thePolyU mainland gaokao tuition page^※, mainland students entering via the JEE (the independent gaokao route) to study on government-funded programmes pay HK$200,000 per year in 2026/27, and must pay an admission deposit of HK$20,000 (credited towards the first semester, non-refundable); overseas telegraphic transfers incur an additional HK$240 bank charge.

# The Local vs Non-Local Gap

Put the two tables side by side: the same programme, the same campus — in 2026/27 a local student pays HK$47,000, a non-local student HK$200,000, or about 4.3 times as much. That gap is the weight of the "UGC-funded" label: for local students, over nine-tenths of the cost is carried by the public purse; non-local students pay their own way.

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# 3. Other Fees and Estimated Living Costs

Per thePolyU undergraduate fees page^※:

In other words: for a non-local student, "tuition 200,000 + hall fees approx. 17,305 + food approx. 52,000 + personal expenses approx. 18,350" already exceeds HK$280,000 a year on paper (before off-campus rent). All figures are subject to PolyU's official announcements.

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# 4. The Scholarship System

PolyU's undergraduate scholarships are led by entry scholarships (no separate application needed; assessed automatically on results), supplemented by college- and department-specific awards and donor-named scholarships. Main source: thePolyU undergraduate scholarships page^※.

# 4.1 Entry Scholarships for Local JUPAS Students

# 4.2 Entry Scholarships for Non-JUPAS (Local) / A-Level and Other Qualifications

# 4.3 Scholarships for Non-Local / International Students

Per thePolyU undergraduate scholarships page^※, most entry scholarships do not require a separate application — eligible students are automatically considered on admission. For non-local students, scholarships are the main way to offset the HK$175,000–200,000 tuition bill.

# 4.4 Emerging Global Leaders Scholarship (EGLS): Up to HK$300,000

Beyond the route-based scholarships above, PolyU's most prestigious named entry award is the Emerging Global Leaders Scholarship (EGLS) — aimed at local students with outstanding HKDSE results, worth up to HK$300,000 per recipient and covering the full tuition fee of the undergraduate programme, with the aim of attracting and cultivating top students with leadership potential. For HKDSE high-flyers, EGLS is not only relief from tuition fees but an honour and a developmental backing — a key card in PolyU's competitive "bidding for top scorers" against HKU, CUHK and the rest.

# 4.5 College/School-Specific Scholarships: SHTM, School of Design and FCE

Several PolyU faculties run their own undergraduate entry and in-study scholarships, with thresholds and amounts varying by faculty:

• School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM): According to theSHTM school page^※, the School awards entry scholarships to JUPAS-admitted HKDSE entrants with strong academic performance, and maintains a large portfolio of industry- and donor-named scholarships (including the D. H. Chen Foundation Scholarship Program, the ISTTE Scholarship, the Tourism Education Scholarship – Peter L. Atkins Memorial Fund, and others) rewarding academic, co-curricular and community-service achievements; specific amounts and selection criteria are published item by item and year by year on the School's website.
• School of Design: Per thePolyU undergraduate scholarships page^※, PolyU lists entry scholarships for designated faculties including the School of Design (the page expands faculty-specific awards under a "Load More" function, with amounts announced per item).
• Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE): Per theFCE entry scholarships page^※, eligible JUPAS students with a total of 25 points or more across their five best HKDSE subjects are considered — one of the few faculty-level scholarships to publish a concrete score threshold.

A note on the gaps: PolyU's official scholarship pages and the SHTM/Design faculty pages name the awards but do not itemise an exact HK$ figure for each one on the public pages (mostly "announced per the respective award's regulations/annually"). This article therefore faithfully records the "top-tier range + award names" without inventing specific amounts. As for scholarships for mainland gaokao students, PolyU's official pages state only that financial assistance and scholarships exist and that some departments run their own faculty-level awards — they do not publish a unified "top-scorer scholarship" amount band (unlike CUHK, which publicly states a "full scholarship + HK$66,000 allowance"-style tier). This article therefore marks it as "no unified public band found"; the JEE-specific scholarship tiers for the mainland gaokao independent-admission route are covered in The mainland gaokao (JEE) route: three application pathways, timeline and subject streams.

# 4.6 Non-Academic Achievements Can Win Scholarships Too

According to theStudent Affairs Office scholarship-types page^※, PolyU scholarships reward more than academic grades — outstanding non-academic achievement in sport, the arts, community service, technology and innovation is also considered. This chimes with PolyU's admissions policy of giving "priority consideration to applicants with outstanding non-academic achievements": the University wants academic high-flyers, but also students with conspicuous talent and potential in other domains.

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# 5. Gaps in the Published Information

PolyU's official pages do not publish itemised amounts for the various SHTM/Design scholarships, nor a unified "top-scorer scholarship" band for mainland gaokao students. This article has flagged both explicitly — "amounts announced per item / per year" and "no unified public band found" — rather than padding the numbers. For research postgraduate (MPhil/PhD) fees, see Section 14.

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# 6. Research Postgraduate (MPhil / PhD) Funding at a Glance

PolyU's research postgraduate (RPg) students sit in a separate funding system from undergraduates, built mainly on three pillars: the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS), the PolyU Scholarship, and supervisor-funded research grants. Full details — amounts, intensity of competition, application timeline — are in Section 14.

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# 7. Government Financial Assistance and Loan Schemes

The Hong Kong government offers several financial-aid schemes to current undergraduates:

# 7.1 The Student Finance Office (SFAA)

The Student Finance Office (SFAA) administers a number of schemes:

Local PolyU students can apply to the SFAA for these schemes to help with tuition and living costs.

# 7.2 Financial Assistance for Non-Local Students

Non-local students are generally ineligible for SFAA support and must rely on:

• PolyU entry scholarships (e.g. the Cultural Ambassador Scholarships);
• scholarships from governments/institutions in their home country (e.g. the China Scholarship Council, provincial and municipal scholarships from mainland China);
• faculty- and department-level awards.

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# 8. The Scholarship Landscape in Full

PolyU's scholarship system can be summarised in three tiers:

# Representative Named Scholarships

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# 9. Items With No Published Figure / Pending Verification

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# 10. Tuition Payment Schedule and Procedures

# 10.1 Payment Deadlines and Procedures for the Current Semester

Per thePolyU undergraduate fees page^※, tuition is payable per semester, with the general procedure as follows:

Exact deadlines are announced by the Student Affairs Office at the start of each academic year; the University's official notices prevail. Late payment may incur an administrative late fee, as set out in the University's financial regulations.

# 10.2 Payment Methods

Per PolyU official information, students can pay tuition by:

• Online bank transfer (most common): transfer to PolyU's designated bank account, quoting the student number as reference;
• ATM payment: some banks' ATMs support fee payment by transfer;
• Cheque: crossed cheque payable to "The Hong Kong Polytechnic University", posted by registered mail to the Finance Office;
• Overseas telegraphic transfer (non-local students): additional bank charges apply (per thePolyU mainland gaokao tuition page^※, mainland students pay an extra HK$240 bank fee for telegraphic transfer).

# 10.3 Refund Policy

If a student withdraws from the University or a course before a specified deadline, PolyU generally refunds tuition on the following principles:

• Withdrawal before the semester begins: most of that semester's tuition is refundable (the admission deposit is generally not);
• Withdrawal after the semester begins: the refund tapers by the number of weeks elapsed; after a certain number of weeks (typically half the semester), no refund is given;
• The precise refund rules are set out in the Student Handbook and the Finance Office's annual notices.

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# 11. Scholarship Application Process and Timeline

# 11.1 The Automatic Assessment of Entry Scholarships

A defining feature of PolyU's entry scholarships is that no separate application is required — PolyU assesses all new students automatically at the admissions stage:

Per thePolyU undergraduate scholarships page^※, the entry-scholarship criteria cover:

• Local JUPAS students: HKDSE results (particularly the number of subjects graded 5**);
• Non-JUPAS local students: A-Level or equivalent results;
• Mainland gaokao students: total gaokao score and the admission standard for their home province;
• Non-local / international students: academic performance and non-academic achievements (extra-curricular activities, community service, etc.).

# 11.2 In-Study Scholarships Requiring an Application

Some scholarships do require an active application (usually open at the start of each academic year):

# 11.3 Scholarships for Mainland Gaokao Students

Per thePolyU mainland gaokao tuition page^※, PolyU does award scholarships to mainland students admitted through the JEE gaokao route, but the official pages do not publish a unified scholarship amount band (in contrast to some institutions that openly state a "top-scorer award + an allowance of several tens of thousands"). Specific arrangements must be enquired from the PolyU admissions office after admission, or checked against the year's admissions handbook.

According to public media reports, some top mainland students admitted to the eight universities can receive full tuition waivers (covering the HK$175,000–200,000 non-local fee), but the conditions and amounts are subject to each academic year's official announcements.

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# 12. A Detailed Cross-University Comparison of the Eight Universities' Fees (2026/27)

# 12.1 Local Student Tuition (UGC-Funded Programmes, Uniform Standard)

Local undergraduate tuition at all UGC-funded universities is set centrally by the government: HK$47,000 for everyone in 2026/27. The tuition itself is identical across institutions — the differences lie in deposits, hall fees and other add-ons:

Figures per theHong Kong government press release (20 June 2024)^※; the three-year adjustment applies to all eight universities, with identical local tuition at each. Deposits, hall fees and add-ons are as published by each institution.

# 12.2 Non-Local Student Tuition (Set by Each Institution, for Reference Only)

Non-local tuition is set independently by each university, with significant variation in 2026/27:

Important disclaimer: non-local tuition is set independently by each institution and adjusted year on year; apart from PolyU, the figures above are indicative only — the authoritative source is each university's official announcement for the year in question. Per the《香港01》 (HK01) report of 14 January 2025^※, all eight universities raised non-local tuition in 2025, by varying margins.

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# 13. Research Postgraduate (RPg) Funding in Detail

# 13.1 MPhil/PhD Fees and Funding Overview

The fee structure for PolyU research postgraduate (RPg) students is entirely different from the undergraduate one:

Exact RPg fees are set out on thePolyU RPg tuition and registration fee page^※ and are beyond the scope of this article.

# 13.2 The Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) in Detail

The Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) is administered by theHong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC)^※ and is the most competitive doctoral award in Hong Kong:

Per theRGC HKPFS website^※, HKPFS recipients must pursue full-time doctoral study in Hong Kong. PolyU has a number of awardees every year, with the exact count published in the University's annual announcements.

# 13.3 The PolyU Scholarship for Research Postgraduates

Aside from HKPFS, PolyU offers its own PolyU Scholarship to admitted RPg students, which generally includes:

• full coverage of tuition fees;
• a monthly living stipend (the exact amount is announced per academic year, typically benchmarked to the HKPFS level or slightly below);
• targeted research allowances in some cases (paid from the supervisor's research funds).

Per thePolyU Graduate School website^※, the PolyU Scholarship aims to ensure that most full-time RPg students have a basic standard of living during their studies, reducing the risk of research being interrupted by financial pressure.

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# 14. Financial Support Pathways for Non-Local Students

# 14.1 Funding Sources Available to Non-Local Undergraduates

Non-local undergraduates generally cannot access Hong Kong government student finance (SFAA support is for local students) and must rely mainly on:

# 14.2 Estimating the Financial Pressure on International Students

Taking a non-local student in 2026/27 as an example, total annual outgoings look like this:

With the top-tier Cultural Ambassador Scholarship (HK$60,000 per year), net outgoings fall to about HK$227,655. With a full-tuition scholarship (covering the HK$200,000 fee), living costs of about HK$87,655 remain — a far lighter burden.

The estimates above reference thePolyU undergraduate fees page^※; actual figures vary with lifestyle and whether a hall place is obtained.

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# 15. Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: What does it actually cost a local student to attend PolyU, and where does the government subsidy go?

In 2026/27 a local student pays HK$47,000 a year in tuition (see Section 1) — roughly 13% of the cost of provision, with the remaining 87% or so borne by the public purse. The government subsidy is paid directly to the University; students never "see" the money, but it is precisely this public funding that lets local students be educated at a fee far below the market rate.

Q2: Is there any difference between the tuition for mainland gaokao self-funded students (JEE) and international students?

Per thePolyU mainland gaokao tuition page^※, mainland gaokao self-funded students (JEE) on government-funded programmes pay the same HK$200,000 per year in 2026/27 as other non-local international students. The differences between the two groups lie in the application route (JEE via mainland gaokao results; international students via other qualifications), the admission deposit (HK$20,000 in both cases) and the kinds of scholarship available (JEE students can apply for CSC awards and provincial/municipal government scholarships, while international students have other sources).

Q3: Can PolyU entry scholarships be renewed, and what are the conditions?

Per thePolyU undergraduate scholarships page^※, some entry scholarships — including the non-JUPAS local "full-tuition scholarship + HK$60,000 annual living allowance" and the non-local "Cultural Ambassador Scholarship up to HK$60,000 per year" — are marked "renewable", generally on condition of maintaining a specified GPA within the normal period of study (the exact GPA threshold is set out in each award's terms). If the GPA falls below the threshold, the scholarship may be suspended or withdrawn; the conditions for reinstatement likewise follow the award's terms.

Q4: How hard is the HKPFS to win? What are PolyU's chances?

Per theRGC HKPFS website^※, the scheme offers around 300 places Hong Kong-wide each year, contested by applicants from around the world, with an extremely low acceptance rate (typically below 3–5%). PolyU has HKPFS recipients every year, though the exact number varies annually. For applicants with a strong research background, top undergraduate grades and publications, PolyU's supervisor networks in its areas of strength — engineering, design, applied science — can be a real advantage. Applicants must complete PolyU's separate RPg admission application in parallel; the two processes run concurrently.

Q5: Is tuition likely to go up again? Will there be further rises after 2027/28?

The current adjustment covers three academic years, 2025/26 to 2027/28 (ending at HK$49,500), with the aim of lifting the cost recovery ratio from about 12.5% to about 13.4% (against the original policy target of 18%). Anything beyond 2027/28 will depend on the government's reassessment and announcement at the time. Given the still-huge gap between the actual cost of provision and the fee, further modest adjustments cannot be ruled out, but the decision is the government's to make and announce.

Q6: Can non-local scholarships cover the full tuition? What is the most PolyU offers?

Per thePolyU undergraduate scholarships page^※, the University-level scholarships (such as the Cultural Ambassador Scholarship) top out at about HK$60,000 a year — roughly 30% of the HK$200,000 tuition. PolyU does not publish a unified "full non-local tuition scholarship" tier; however, some faculty/department and donor-named awards can be stacked on top. According to media reports, top mainland gaokao scorers (such as provincial top candidates) can be offered arrangements covering the full tuition fee, but this is subject to PolyU's admissions announcements and individual notifications for the year in question — the official pages do not publish a unified "top-scorer scholarship" amount.

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