Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's new campus in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, welcomed its first group of postgraduate students on Thursday.

Located in Guangzhou's Nansha district, the university is the first independent educational institution jointly established between the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region since the development outline for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was unveiled in 2019.

Fifteen master's and doctoral degrees are offered in various fields, including advanced materials, intelligent transportation and microelectronics. Student admissions started this year. Undergraduate courses, covering artificial intelligence, data science, big data technology and smart manufacturing, will begin in 2023.

"The opening of HKUST (Guangzhou) represents a new chapter in cooperation between Guangzhou and Hong Kong in education," said Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu. It is a milestone in developing an education and talent hub in the GBA."

In a video speech at the opening ceremony, Lee said the special administrative region would proactively promote educational exchanges and cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong, with the aim of integrating into the overall development of the country.

"We have achieved good progress in tertiary education cooperation, especially in areas such as cooperative education, student exchanges and collaboration on research and development," he said.

Hong Kong will continue to proactively participate in and promote higher education cooperation in the GBA, and assist Hong Kong's tertiary institutions in coming up with more flexible and innovative operating modes to facilitate stronger cooperation between campuses in Hong Kong and GBA cities, as well as better flow of teaching staff and students. Talenet needs nurturing to meet the needs of national development, Lee said.

In another development, the Minxin Hong Kong School (Guangzhou Nansha), which provides primary and secondary education to Hong Kong students residing on the mainland and other non-local children, also opened on Thursday.