Li Qingquan said exchanges between Hong Kong and mainland universities have been a unilateral process - Hong Kong institutions setting up branches on the mainland. He told HK media that the reverse can be done to ensure bilateral exchanges.

"In this year's National People's Congress, I raised suggestions to boost the bilateral exchange between Hong Kong and the mainland's higher-educational institutions," he said.

Li, who is attending the two sessions in Beijing, said the exchange among tertiary institutions in the Greater Bay Area is rather unilateral at the moment. "Mainly Hong Kong's colleges are establishing campuses on the mainland," he added.

Such unilateral exchanges were described by Li as not enough. He thinks the central government should support bilateral exchanges by encouraging opening joint-institutions between the mainland and Hong Kong, as well as encouraging Hong Kong students to study in the mainland.

"At Shenzhen University, as the nearest mainland comprehensive university to Hong Kong, we have plans in the future to set up a campus in the SAR," Li said.

He added the possibility of protests on campus is a problem that will be considered when establishing the Hong Kong branch. "We must seek the SAR government's support and maintain the campus' regular order in accordance with the constitution and law," Li said.

The Educational Bureau unveiled earlier guidelines to push a national security curriculum to primary and secondary schools, to which Li said national security education should be started as early as pre-school.

The chairman of the Council of Lingnan University, Andrew Yao Cho-fai, who also attended the two sessions in Beijing, told local media that the bureau has not given his university any guidelines on national security education.

Yao, a Hong Kong deputy to the Chinese national legislature, said, however, the university has always offered classes for students to learn more about national security, adding that the university is considering establishing an institution with a university from the Greater Bay Area.

At least six Hong Kong universities either have or are preparing to set up campuses in Greater Bay Area cities.

Baptist University and Beijing Normal University jointly found a United International College in 2005 that is based in Zhuhai, while Chinese University and Shenzhen University jointly opened a campus in Shenzhen in 2014.

Polytechnic University is expected to open its Foshan campus next year, as will the University of Science and Technology open its Shenzhen campus.

The City University is expected to open its campus in Dongguan in 2023. The Open University is waiting for China's Ministry of Education to approve a campus in Zhaoqing.