The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region clawed back into the top 10 of the International Institute for Management Development’s World Talent Ranking released on Thursday, marking its first appearance since 2016.
A renowned international financial hub, Hong Kong jumped to ninth place from 16th last year, according to the annual ranking.
The Switzerland-based independent academic institute evaluates the talent prowess of 67 economies worldwide using three chief factors: investment and development, appeal, and readiness, with the last compromising metrics such as labor force growth, quality of available skills, and effectiveness of the education system.
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Hong Kong made big strides across all three factors from the previous year. The city’s ranking in “readiness” climbed from sixth to fourth, while its “investment and development” climbed from 15th to 13th. Hong Kong also saw a rise in “appeal” rating, up from 32nd to 28th place.
Among the indicators, the SAR topped the ranking in the percentage of graduates in sciences, and claimed the global top five in the availability of finance skills, effectiveness of management education and remuneration of management.
Switzerland took top position in the IMD World Talent Ranking, followed by Singapore and Luxembourg, with Sweden and Denmark rounding out the top five.
“The return of Hong Kong to among the top 10 in the IMD’s ranking is clear evidence that the work of the Hong Kong SAR government in education and talent admission has made remarkable achievements,” a government spokesperson said.
The city is home to five universities ranked in the world’s top 100, making it the only city in Asia with this distinction, according to the 2025 QS World University Rankings published in June.
“Hong Kong has a sound education infrastructure, world-renowned universities and outstanding research talent. The quality of our teaching and learning is ranked among the top in various international comparative studies,” the spokesperson noted.
The government announced in the 2022 Policy Address an array of admission measures to entice global talent to come to Hong Kong. These include the launch of the Top Talent Pass Scheme, which targets high-income talent and graduates from the world’s top universities, as well as the enhancement of various talent admission schemes to trawl for outside quality talent to enrich the local talent pool.
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The spokesman added that the chief executive’s 2023 Policy Address “has set out clearly the strategic directions and objectives for enhancing the quality of education in Hong Kong, with a view to developing Hong Kong into an ‘international post-secondary education hub and a cradle of future talent’, nurturing a diversified talent pool, and enhancing Hong Kong’s development momentum while promoting people-to-people exchanges and contributing to national development”.
By the end of August, the government received over 360,000 applications through various talent admission programs, with nearly 230,000 applications getting the green light. During the same period, over 150,000 professionals arrived in Hong Kong under talent programs.
“The arrival of outside quality talent and their family members boosts Hong Kong’s labor force and injects new momentum into our economy. The HKSAR government established the Hong Kong Talent Engage in end-October 2023 to provide one-stop support services to incoming talent to enable their settlement in Hong Kong,” the spokesman said.
Contact the writer at tianyuanzhang@chinadailyhk.com
