The Education University on Thursday has given an assurance that the quality of its teaching will not be affected by slashed government funding.

That comes as starting from the next academic year, publicly-funded universities will see their funding reduced by 2 percent annually over the next three years.

Education University president John Lee emphasised that learning and talent development will remain the school's top priority where its students are concerned.

He said the institution will consider terminating some of its own programmes if admission figures fall below expectations as a way to save costs.

Vice president for administration Tom Fong pointed out that the cut is a mild one.

"I think we can make the overall picture a mild and stable one, although we will be very prudent in all the spending," he said.

"Say for those that are not among the priority items [for spending], we will do it a little bit later.

"But for those who are really priority items, as the president has just said, we will still go on.

"Because it is already laid down in our strategic plan and there's no way to really change all the rules of the game, we can still provide quality education even though we have a mild cut of a budget."

Lee said the institution is continuing its efforts to recruit talent globally.

He is confident that as long as the university maintains its competitiveness, it can attract and retain talent.

It is also crucial for the school to be open and receptive to changes such as in AI technology, the president added.

For instance, it has rolled out AI-related taught postgraduate programmes and recruited experts who specialise in AI research and application to education.

Separately, under its strategic plan for between 2025 and 2031, the university announced that national security and law education will be among a series of mandatory courses that students have to take and attain a pass result.