Authorities will enhance Hong Kong's status as a regional education hub, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Chief Executive Donald Tsang said in the policy address on Wednesday.

"Our objective is to enhance Hong Kong's status as a regional education hub," he said, adding that efforts will be made to further boost Hong Kong's competitiveness and complement the future development of the Chinese mainland.

Tsang noted that developing Hong Kong's education services will bolster the pluralistic, international and professional outlook of Hong Kong, and make the best use of social resources in the non-government sector to provide more opportunities for local students to pursue degree education.

In recent years, the HKSAR government has introduced a series of measures to internationalize local schools and institutions. The number of non-local students in Hong Kong reached 9,200 in the 2008-09 school year, representing a rise of 16 percent over the previous year.

The education authority will explore the possibility of allowing Chinese mainland's senior secondary students to study in Hong Kong. They may be allowed to take short-term courses offered by Hong Kong's degree-awarding tertiary institutions, or pursue senior secondary education at non-public schools in Hong Kong.

Apart from targeting Chinese mainland students, the local education authority will also encourage local higher education institutions to step up exchange and promotion in Asia.

The government also consider that the self-financing higher education sector has room for further expansion and is an important component of education services. At present, there are three self-financing degree-awarding tertiary institutions in Hong Kong, providing some 9,000 places in total.