Education authorities on Tuesday stressed that plans to slash funding for universities does not translate to a rise in tuition fees for non-local students as a source of income.

The government had announced plans to reduce public university funding by HK$2.8 billion over the next three academic years.

At a Legislative Council panel meeting, education minister Christine Choi was asked if universities would raise fees for non-local students because of the cut.

Choi said non-local students' tuition fee adjustments are not linked with the income of a university.

"Even if we increase the funding for universities, they will not lower the tuition for non-local students, so when non-local students come to Hong Kong to study – regardless of the change in our funding for universities – the tuition level is decided based on the cost of individual programmes," Choi said.

As part of funding changes to publicly-financed universities, the institutions need to return HK$4 billion from their General and Development Reserve Fund to the government in a one-off special arrangement.

Universities would not be seriously affected with the move leaving them with around four months worth of reserves, Choi said.