Compared to the mainland, Hong Kong universities have more advantages. The management of Hong Kong universities falls in accordance with international rules, said Ma Jiansheng, a professor at Beijing Normal University. The educational quality of Hong Kong's universities is recognized by the world, whereas mainland universities still lag behind.
Although she has studied in Hong Kong for about two years, Huang said she is still adapting to the new environment. "Unlike mainland universities like Peking University, where all of the students were admitted because of high scores, the students in Hong Kong have different backgrounds and experience, so there is no comparison," Huang told the Times Weekly.
Whether you are excellent or not and no matter where you come from, the only one who can decide your development is yourself, not the school or teachers, Huang said. "At home my target was set down by teachers and parents, and the only thing I could do was follow their rules. But in Hong Kong, nobody helps you plan your future."
Unlike Li Qingyang and Huang Jing, Xue Tiancheng was not so lucky. He did not do well on the gaokao exam in 2008, and only got an "entrance ticket" from Guangdong University of Technology, a common local college.
After one year at the university, an opportunity led Xu to Hong Kong, where he applied for an associate's degree at Hong Kong Baptist University and got admitted.
The associate's degree program provides a similar experience to professional training in mainland colleges. Hong Kong Baptist University became the first to recruit mainland students for the degree in 2009. Even though the academic certification of an associate's degree is not acceptable on the mainland, some students still choose it in order to live and work in Hong Kong.
Xu did not regret his choice after two years of study in Hong Kong. He was also impressed by the differences between Hong Kong and the mainland's styles of higher education. Education in Hong Kong is more focused on "cultivating the student's ability to think and express himself," Xu said. "Student behavior is measured by an examination in the mainland, but in Hong Kong it is reversed. Achievement is gauged by the student's usual behavior. The examination only accounts for 40 percent of the final achievement."
In addition, most teachers in Hong Kong have overseas educational experience, Xu said. "They respect students more and never evaluate them only according to points."
To Xu, the most important thing was that he had recovered his confidence, which he had lost because of his unsuccessful gaokao results.
