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Friday, April 12, 2019, 11:12
Record HK students vie for mainland universities
By Kathy Zhang
Friday, April 12, 2019, 11:12 By Kathy Zhang

A photo taken on Sept 15, 2016 shows the entrace of Tsinghua University, Beijing, capital of China. (PHOTO / IC)

A record 3,511 Hong Kong students applied for universities on the Chinese mainland this year, with those in Guangdong receiving much more applicants, the China Education Exchange (Hong Kong) Centre confirmed on Thursday.

From March 1 to 29, 5,755 applications were made to 14 universities in Guangdong province - 380 more than 2018

The number of applicants for the Scheme for Admission of Hong Kong to Mainland Higher Education Institutions – one of the major means for the city’s young people to try to enter mainland universities – experienced a 9.2 percent rise from last year.

The Hong Kong-based center -- affiliated with the nation’s Ministry of Education – attributed the increase to the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

From March 1 to 29, 5,755 applications were made to 14 universities in Guangdong province - 380 more than 2018.

The growth indicates Hong Kong young people and their families have more confidence in the nation’s future development, explained HKCEEC director Gong Wan.

The blueprint for the Bay Area development, released in February, played a positive role in attracting more Hong Kong students to pursue a higher education in Guangdong, added Gong.

READ MORE: Transportation plans bode well for development

The increase was also driven by mainland universities’ efforts to improve their international reputations in recent years. This also helped make them better known to the city’s secondary school students.

Local educators are also taking note of this trend. Tang Fei, principal of Heung To Secondary School (Tseung Kwan O), said universities on the mainland provide an alternative path for Hong Kong students to pursue a college degree.

In his view, mainland universities in the Bay Area become a trendy option as students can stay close to their homes and have fewer language and cultural barriers.

Looking ahead, a growing number of young people will also be willing to go to the Pearl River Delta. This is because the region’s economy is vibrant and provides more opportunities for the young to study, work or start a business.

Tang hopes that in future Guangdong can deepen cooperation with leading universities in Hong Kong to improve the quality of higher education in the Bay Area.

This year, economics and finance continue to top the 10 most popular majors followed by medical studies and engineering, according to the HKCEEC.

Fresh secondary school graduates in Hong Kong can also enter mainland universities by taking the city’s Joint Entrance Exam for Universities in the People’s Republic of China. This is an exam designed for similar purposes and run by the city’s Examinations and Assessment Authority.

READ MORE: 'Internationalization incubators' to push Bay Area forward

Moreover, six universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University and Sun Yat-sen University, are allowed to hold their own examinations for Hong Kong students and offer places to shortlist candidates.

As of Wednesday, 10,433 Hong Kong young people have submitted their applications to universities on the mainland via the three major channels, according to the HKCEEC.

In recent years, only some 20 percent of students in the city gained admission to publicly funded universities, according to various local statistics. 

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