Managing human capital in world cities: Reflections on Hong Kong

The notion of "human capital" was originally an economic one, referring to the stock of skills and knowledge acquired through education and experience, and embodied in the ability of workers to contribute towards the production process in creating and adding economic value. With the advent of the new globalized knowledge economy where competition among countries and cities has intensified, the human capital discourse has extended to cover a wider array of factors including knowledge, skills, ideas, creativity, quality and the clustering effect. Grooming local talent through education and training, as well as enlarging the pool of talent through importation of overseas students and professionals, has become the thrust of many governments' policy agenda. Hong Kong is no exception. This presentation examines Hong Kong's comparative advantage as well as constraints and challenges in its bid towards enhancing its human capital and becoming an Education Hub.