College students of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland in July. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Hong Kong's Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said on Sept 19 that the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will continue to invest in education and join hands with the higher education sector to provide the younger generation with more and better opportunities.

Speaking at the launch ceremony of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the re-establishment of Lingnan University in Hong Kong, Cheung said education was a top policy priority of the SAR government.

It is taking the lion's share of the government recurrent expenditure, accounting for 21 percent of the total in the current financial year, which illustrates the SAR government's commitment to education in Hong Kong, he added.

Cheung said he was pleased to note that Lingnan University had developed a strategic plan for 2016-22 to steer its students to the next level of excellence.

Among the various areas identified for strategic development, the university is determined to promote regional and international cooperation to strengthen the research culture and training as well as internationalization of student learning. This strategy aligns well with the Belt and Road Initiative, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area initiatives, he said.

"Hong Kong has a key role to play in these very important initiatives and we should help our young talent grasp the new opportunities."

Cheung also mentioned that the extraordinary story of Lingnan was among the many tales in Hong Kong which exemplified the unique relationship between Hong Kong and the motherland.

In 1888, the university's forerunner, the Christian College in China, was founded in Guangzhou. In 1967, 79 years later, the institution was re-established in Hong Kong as Lingnan College. It was granted self-accreditation status and full recognition as a university by the government in 1998 and renamed Lingnan University in 1999.

As the only public-funded liberal arts university in Hong Kong, Cheung said, Lingnan is a shining and outstanding example of the virtues of liberal arts in education.