(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-09-06 22:32

HONG KONG - A nine-year-old mathematics prodigy has become Hong Kong's youngest undergraduate, waltzing through his first day at university saying classes were too easy.

March Boedihardjo, a 9-year-old maths prodigy, attends a news conference in Hong Kong August 23, 2007, after he was admitted to the Hong Kong Baptist University. Boedihardjo has become Hong Kong's youngest undergraduate, waltzing through his first day at university saying classes were too easy. [Reuters]

March Boedihardjo, an Indonesian-Chinese boy resident in Hong Kong, was accepted by Hong Kong's Baptist University to study for a master's degree after gaining straight As in entrance A-level exams usually taken at 17 or 18.

"It was too easy," Boedihardjo told reporters after attending a convocation ceremony in a pint-sized black-gown and his first day of classes Tuesday, adding that he'd already learnt the subject matter a year or two ago.

The university has designed a five-year program for the child, but it has stirred controversy among some education experts who say he might experience stunted personal and social development as a result.