Chinese mainland undergraduate applications for HK universities fall 30 percent

HONG KONG, June 23 -- The undergraduate applications from the Chinese mainland at Hong Kong universities keep falling although those local campuses have been actively recruiting top students from the mainland.

According to the local media, the number of mainland students applying for the undergraduate courses in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for 2015/16 went down 34 percent to 2,300 from 3,500 a year ago.

Lingnan University has seen a yearly drop of 40 percent, with the application from the Chinese mainland falling to 556 from 928, while Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) has also recorded a 40- percent decrease to 2,319 applicants from 3,876.

The principal of Heung To Middle School Wong Chung Leung told Xinhua that the recent anti-parallel trading and the Occupy Central movement last year made mainlanders think they are unwelcome, which has led to hesitation by many mainland students before applying for universities in Hong Kong.

Wong also said the access to overseas universities is becoming much easier for mainland students, who do not need to take Hong Kong as a springboard like before.

A spokesman for the HKBU said it is not strange that the number of mainland students applying for Hong Kong universities falls as the opportunities for them to study abroad grow. However, the HKBU is still confident of recruiting top mainland students due to limited quota and fierce competition.

Cheung Man-ping, chairman of the Hong Kong Education Policy Concern Organization, said some mainland students and their parents worry about the security here or being sidelined because of the negative effect of the Occupy Central and the lack of hospitality felt by mainland tourists.