Hong Kong's publicly-funded universities will be allowed to double the admission quota of non-local students to build the SAR into an international hub for post-secondary education, Chief Executive John Lee announced in his Policy Address on Wednesday.

Lee said starting from the next academic year, public universities can admit up to 40 percent of non-local students - up from the current 20 percent - especially those from the mainland and Belt and Road countries.

The CE also revealed that his administration will inject HK$1 billion into the Government Scholarship Fund and beef up the quota of the Belt and Road scholarship by 50 percent to attract outstanding talent to study and conduct research in the SAR.

To accommodate more students, Lee said universities will take forward a number of hostel projects which will provide about 13,500 additional hostel places by 2027.

Full-time non-local postgraduate students will be temporarily exempted from restrictions on taking up part-time jobs to enhance their experience of working in the territory, which is expected to benefit more than 35,000 students.

Lee added that the University Grants Committee will inject HK$100 million into a funding scheme to encourage universities to offer students with more exchange opportunities outside Hong Kong.