An education concern group has backed the government's bid to tighten eligibility rules of students hoping to take up subsidised tertiary education places, saying it is important to "plug a loophole" and prevent abuse.

A key change unveiled by the government on Thursday will make it mandatory for children of non-local talent to reside in Hong Kong for at least two years before becoming eligible for any subsidised sub-degree, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

The residency requirement for the 2027-28 academic year will be set at one year as a transitional move, before the two-year requirement takes full effect from the 2028-29 year.

Mervyn Cheung, who chairs the Hong Kong Education Policy Concern Organisation, pointed to reports of some parents – despite not intending to settle in the SAR – using talent admission schemes to obtain dependent visas for their children.

"It's time for the government to act accordingly to curb any such malpractice," he told RTHK.

"At the end of the first year, there could be a review of the overall situation to see if it is effective in curbing the kind of misuse of our precious public higher education resources through the admission of non-local talent, where the benefits spill over to their dependent children."

Education-sector lawmaker Chu Kwok-keung, for his part, expressed the hope that the policy change could put a stop to the situation where some dependent children apply for government-subsidised places as local students without residing in Hong Kong.

Calling the tightening of rules "a responsible decision", fellow lawmaker Gary Zhang noted that 2,500 non-locals took the university entrance exam this year, 13 times more than the figure in 2021 and the highest since 2012.