NEWS
June 14, 2025
Policy Forum on Education Reform and Workforce Mobility in the Greater Bay Area, China
The “Policy Forum on Education Reform and Workforce Mobility in the Greater Bay Area, China”, organised by the Hong Kong Institute of Educational Research, and co-sponsored by the CUHK Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau University Alliance Symposiums on Greater Bay Area Fund and the Tin Ka Ping Foundation, brings together leading researchers from different regions to discuss educational reform issues and social opportunities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA). The Forum adopts multiple perspectives to encompass the economic, social, political, psychological and policy aspects of educational issues in GBA.
The Hong Kong Institute of Educational Research (HKIER) successfully hosted the “Policy Forum on Education Reform & Workforce Mobility in the Greater Bay Area, China” on 6-7 June, 2022 in a hybrid format. Sixteen researchers from different fields of expertise were invited to present and discuss in three panels related to education and labour mobility in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), China. The Forum attracted participants in person and online from different countries, including scholars, students, educational practitioners, and policy-makers.
The Forum was co-organized by Professor Kenneth K. Wong from Brown University and Professor Dongshu Ou, Associate Professor at the Department of Educational Administration and Policy and Associate Director of HKIER. This two half-day event, co-sponsored by the Tin Ka Ping Foundation and the CUHK Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau University Alliance Symposiums on Greater Bay Area Fund, was part of the project in the “Research Consortium on Education Policy and Development in the Greater Bay Area.” The Forum aimed at bringing together leading researchers from different regions to discuss educational reform issues and social opportunities in the GBA. Multiple perspectives were adopted to encompass the economic, social, political, psychological, and policy aspects of educational issues in the GBA.
In the opening remarks, Dean of Faculty of Education Professor Xitao Fan highlighted the importance of the Forum on reinforcing the relationship between CUHK and GBA, and CUHK as an important hub for GBA educational policy research. Professor Heung Sang Stephen Wong, Director of the HKIER, talked about the contribution of HKIER on promoting research excellence in the GBA educational issues and enhancing regional collaboration via the Forum . The scientific co-chairs, Professor Kenneth K. Wong and Professor Dongshu Ou, introduced the background and aims of the Research Consortium and the Forum.
The first session “Higher education development” investigated the intention and impact of youth labour mobility. Professor Ka Ho Joshua Mok and Dr. Yin Ma’s team found that Hong Kong youth valued both motivation and working opportunities in the GBA cities when they made decision on cross-border work. Such results will be useful for policy formulation on promoting geographical movement of workers across regions, particularly in the post-pandemic period. Professor Li Yu discovered that returnee faculties outperformed their domestic colleagues in terms of research quality and quantity. Hiring more returnee academics would also benefit the research performance of the whole department, which further supported the introduction of returned talents at the tertiary education level. While recognising the contributions of both studies, Professor Bingqin Li, Professor Chen Li and Professor Yisu Zhuo provided comments on other factors related to cross-border work intention, academic research and its impact on community, as well as significance of academic publications in higher education development.