The focus thus far has been how the National Security laws can potentially infringe upon and limit the fundmental freedoms of this city. But the laws does not just affect freedom of speech or assembly, it can also impact other areas, such as education.
Some are fearing the laws will be an indirect means for the authorities to introduce patriotic education on HK (I think the better and more accurate term should be "'propaganda education") in the secondary and primary schools of this city.
But there is another impact potentially even more damaging on education, those in teritary education. The local universities, especially the top three in HKU, CUHK and HKUST, are actually reasonably well-respected internationally. They might not be at the very top rank like Harvard or Oxford, but nevertheless they do score decently in different academic rankings and have accomplished faculty members in their respective fields among it's staff. But can this continue under this new national security law?
I say this because now we have the heads of local universities saying they support the "national security law" while also claiming to continue to champion "academic freedom":
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/...ity-supporting
But is it really that simple? Can academic freedom truly exist under the new national security law regime? Would some research topics suddenly became "banned"? Would campus activism face an imminent crackdown? Would faculty members be evaluated on political considerations rather than on academic merit? Would talented researchers be driven away or deterred from coming because they happened to be "politically wrong"?