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South China Morning Post
17 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Number of semi-private schools seeking fee increases falls by 26% in Hong Kong
The number of Hong Kong semi-private schools applying for a tuition fee increase has dropped by more than a quarter against a year ago, with the sector attributing the decline partially to the sluggish economy. A spokesman for the Education Bureau said on Friday that as of June it had received 40 applications from schools belonging to the direct subsidy scheme (DSS) to adjust tuition fees upwards, a 26 per cent decrease from the 54 recorded last year. The number has not been this low since 2022. The number of schools notifying the bureau of an intent to freeze fees this September rose to 38, up from 25 last year, marking a 52 per cent increase. Dion Chen, chairman of the Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council, said the sluggish economy could be one reason for the schools' reluctance to raise fees. 'Like during the pandemic, most of the DSS schools did not raise school fees. And DSS schools would also study whether they have such a need and sufficient surplus before applying to raise the fees,' he said. About 470 preschools receiving subsidies and around 130 private ones have applied for a fee increase, marking a 10 per cent drop from the 660 recorded last year.
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
Could hi-tech China revive the US rust belt – and steady superpower ties?
China could draw on its innovation in advanced manufacturing to improve business – and overall – ties with the United States amid a fragile trade truce, according to a prominent American political scientist. Advertisement In an interview, Robert Pape, a professor at the University of Chicago, also said China could 'rise peacefully' to be the world's leading superpower through its strength in innovation if it continued 'moderate responses' to US President Donald Trump 's foreign policy – while America grappled with domestic fractures and a rise in political violence. Pape, who specialises in international security affairs, pointed to what he called the 'Wuhan model' – integrated university-industry clusters in second-tier Chinese cities that focus on advanced manufacturing, which he said opened up possibilities for reinvigorating rust-belt cities in the US. Political scientist Robert Pape visited some of China's biggest tech firms last month. Photo: LinkedIn 'They're integrating university research in private industry. But it's not just happening in Stanford and Silicon Valley or Harvard, MIT and the Boston area. This is happening in a second-tier city,' Pape said. He made the remarks after a 10-day trip to China last month when he visited some of the country's big tech firms in cities including Wuhan, Hangzhou and Shenzhen. Wuhan – capital of central Hubei province and home to a hi-tech manufacturing cluster known as Optics Valley – has traditionally been seen as a second-tier city but in recent years has moved into the ranks of the 'new first-tier cities' as its innovative and industrial strength has grown. Advertisement Pape's visit took place amid a temporary de-escalation of the US-China trade war following separate talks in Geneva and London in June.
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
China's trade-in programme boosts sales of foreign brands
Global brands including US tech giant Apple have recorded an unexpected bump in sales in China over recent months, as they reap the benefit of Beijing's giant consumption-boosting subsidy campaign. China has ploughed 300 billion yuan (US$40.9 billion) of funding from a special bond sale this year into the trade-in programme – which provides hefty discounts on goods ranging from cars to smartphones – as the government strives to raise domestic demand and offset the impact of US tariffs. The policy had already driven 1.1 trillion yuan in sales as of the end of May, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce, providing a boost to several major multinationals. Sales of iPhones in China grew by 8 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2025, marking Apple's first quarter of positive sales growth in the country for two years, consulting firm Counterpoint Research said in a research note on Thursday. The report attributed the uptick to Apple's aggressive discount campaigns in May, which were bolstered significantly by China's national trade-in programme. The company cut prices for the iPhone 16 series ahead of China's '618' shopping festival on June 18. 'Second quarter performance has been propped up by the national subsidy for smartphones, but it looks like the programme will be scaled back during the latter half of the year,' the note said.
