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 Research postgraduate students from the mainland studying at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Edmond Tang / China Daily
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HK students facing tough but beneficial competition from mainland students
It came as a blow when Yin Wenting, a student from Shenzhen, was rejected in her application to attend the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the city's top school, five years ago.
Her most obvious option appeared to be an offer of enrolment from one of the top 10 universities on the mainland but she was not satisfied.
Rather than enrol in the elite mainland university, Yin took her third option, to become a student at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The quality of the education she could obtain in Hong Kong and the city itself were the prime motivators in shaping her final choice.
Hong Kong Education Bureau statistics show that the number of non-local students studying under University Grants Committee (UGC) programs doubled from the 2006 level to 8,400 in the 2009-2010 academic year.
HKU alone is getting around 9,000 applications every year from mainland students seeking enrolment in the university's undergraduate program. Fewer than 300 of those applicants - slightly more than 3 percent - are accepted.
"Hong Kong embraces a diversity of different cultures; it is the best choice for students who want to keep pace with the development of the emerging Asian markets while maintaining a global perspective," said Isabella Wong, director of the China Affairs Office at HKU.
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 Wang at the Qomolangma summit. Euphoria soon gave way to anxiety about the treacherous way down.
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The relaxation of rules for mainlanders applying for Hong Kong visas plays a big part in the influx of mainland students. In 2008, the Hong Kong Immigration Bureau started granting visa extensions of one year for mainland students who had earn at least a bachelor's degree at a Hong Kong university. That meant students had time to look for a job and it has been making it a lot easier for graduates to settle down in the city.
Undergrad Mary Wang Yueming said the perception is widespread that students can improve their career prospects back on the mainland, or even farther afield, if they obtain their degree from a Hong Kong university. She's from Harbin, in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province.
Wang is studying business administration, accounting and finance in Hong Kong. After graduation, she hopes to move on to take a master's degree in the US or the UK to give herself a solid footing in the business world.
Wang said the quality of education in Hong Kong was considered to be better than most schools on the mainland. English language instruction in Hong Kong also provided an advantage. Mainland students are pretty much taking over postgraduate programs. UGC figures show that more than half of the 5,871 research positions available in 2007 and 2008 were occupied by mainland students.
Vincent Cheung, head of the Postgraduate Studies Administration at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), said the mainland contingent now comprises 70 percent of students enrolled in the university's research programs.
With mainland students becoming a rising force in Hong Kong universities, distinctions between mainland students and their Hong Kong counterparts already are becoming blurred. HKU Faculty of Education Dean Shirley Grundy observed that as Hong Kong becomes more integrated into the country, especially the Pearl River Delta region, the distinctions between Hong Kong and mainland students will become less meaningful.
Henry Wai, the registrar of HKU, thinks that as more and more Hong Kong companies expand into the mainland, Hong Kong natives will benefit from their exposure to their mainland classmates.
"At least they speak better Mandarin than before," he said. "And with these mainland connections, they can get an edge when applying for jobs."
Mainland students can also be strong competitors against their Hong Kong counterparts in the job market.
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Chung admits that those mainland students who can also speak Cantonese and good English apart from Mandarin "have a significant edge over us".
Zou Chonghua, a division head at the Beijing-Hong Kong Academic Exchange Centre (BHKAEC) who came to Hong Kong 16 years ago, says most of the researchers in the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks are mainland graduates. A PhD holder from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Zou now organizes academic and research exchange programs between Hong Kong and mainland higher education and research institutions.
"Talent from the mainland contributes greatly to Hong Kong's scientific research, which enjoys a worldwide reputation for its high quality," he said.
China Daily
