Valuable learning experience on the mainland

A growing number of students from Hong Kong are choosing to study at universities on the mainland because of the high-quality education on offer and the valuable life experience and networking that follow.

According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Education, 11,155 students from the special administrative region are studying at mainland institutions. It is not only the high-profile universities that are pulling in the learners from Hong Kong; as of October 2011, 219 mainland institutions had Hong Kong students on their rolls and 30 percent of students were receiving government funding, the ministry says.

Gibert Mok Kie Bong, 22, a recent graduate from Peking University, says he has got more than first-rate education in Beijing; he has got some perspective as well.

"I found my stay at a mainland university gave me some new angles to look at social issues in Hong Kong," Mok says.

At Peking University, Mok can return to Hong Kong for a semester of learning. He says he can compare attitudes in the two locations.

"For example, some students in Hong Kong had strong opinions about mainland women giving birth in Hong Kong just so their babies can have the right to permanent residency."

The issue came to the fore when the Hong Kong government decided to stop allowing women with no ties to Hong Kong to book maternity beds in Hong Kong starting in 2013.

"Some believed the government should completely restrict hospital beds but I knew the situation was much more complex and I think that such changes should be made gradually."

Many Hong Kong students also find studying on the mainland is the perfect way to prepare for a career on the mainland, says Mao Donghui, director of the Tsinghua-MIT International MBA Program.

Mao says students and their parents are realizing they can get a lot of things on the mainland that they might have once sought overseas.

She says in the late 1990s, many Hong Kong parents sent their children to Canadian universities, but many realized the mainland has the best career opportunities so they returned for their postgraduate programs.

Mao's program admits around 50 students worldwide each year and Hong Kong students are always among them.

According to the Education Ministry, Hong Kong students favor majors such as business management, economics and international relations. The number of Hong Kong students taking subjects such as traditional Chinese medicine has also been on the rise in recent years.

chengyingqi@chinadaily.com.cn