HKUST Annual Report 2024-2025

11 P R E S I D E N T ’ S R E P O R T DRAWING GLOBAL TALENT On the education and research fronts, HKUST’s enduring ability to attract the brightest faculty—from rising stars to senior academics—has been a key driver in both sustaining momentum and broadening the impact of our academic excellence and innovation. Since 2022, we have recruited nearly 160 faculty members through initiatives such as the Targeted Hiring Scheme and the “30 for 30” Strategic Hiring Campaign, strengthening strategic fields such as biomedical sciences, artificial intelligence, sustainability, and arts technology. The quality of our academics is reflected in the inclusion of over 200 HKUST researchers in Stanford University’s 2025 list of the World’s Top 2% Scientists acknowledged for their single-year impact. Our global student recruitment is also flourishing. Non-local undergraduate applications for 2024-25 saw a striking 40% increase, reaching almost 20,000 students from more than 85 countries and regions. This growth has been aided by our expanding portfolio of interdisciplinary programs in future-oriented fields such as AI, health sciences, and emerging engineering, which offer strong graduate employability. As a result, HKUST now hosts the highest proportion of international undergraduates among UGC-funded institutions. Our postgraduate community also demonstrated remarkable global diversity in 2024–25, with non-local students from 61 countries and regions making up over 80% of our 8,000-plus enrollment. Applications for research and taught postgraduate programs rose by 23% and 15%, respectively, for the 2025–26 academic year. We again attracted the most awardees among UGC-funded institutions under the prestigious Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme and we welcomed over 100 top PhD students from 13 countries and regions.