"The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a place to cultivate techonology-related talent," said a young biotechnology graduate of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology who founded a startup, and he said young people can seek opportunities from his alma mater's upcoming campus in Guangzhou.

Collaboration between Hong Kong's tertiary institutions and those on the Chinese mainland has never been closer, with Hong Kong universities making a beeline to set up campuses across the border.

The rush by the special administrative region's institutions of higher learning to take a leaf from their mainland peers, particularly in advanced technology and innovation, is to get themselves well-integrated with the national 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).

The development blueprint calls for the Greater Bay Area to boost integration among industries, education, and research, and promote collaboration among universities in the region. In line with that goal, many Hong Kong universities have set up campuses on the mainland to raise their standing and expand operations.

In her 2021 Policy Address, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor pledged that the SAR government will intensify the flow of talent within the 11-city cluster.

This will not only benefit education in the region, but also support Hong Kong's bid to become an "innovative technology" hub and achieve a win-win situation under the 14th Five-Year Plan.

Hong Kong universities have regularly been listed among the world's leading tertiary institutions, with five of them among the top 100. But some Hong Kong universities have hit a bottleneck in industrializing research in the past few years.

The answer is to go north, where Guangdong province offers huge advantages in the manufacturing industry. To overcome the difficulties and accelerate development, Hong Kong universities began extending their reach to the southern Chinese province and exploring new areas for cooperation, especially in technology innovation and professional services education.

Several Hong Kong universities have established or are preparing to set up campuses in the Greater Bay Area. They include the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, City University of Hong Kong in Dongguan, Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Foshan, Hong Kong Metropolitan University (formerly known as the Open University of Hong Kong) in Zhaoqing, and Hong Kong Baptist University in Zhuhai.