News Analysis: Hong Kong's charm to mainland students dims

Young people from the Chinese mainland have become less keen to pursue a career or study in Hong Kong, which is said to be caused by the region's changing social and employment environment.

"Ten years ago, around 80 to 90 percent of students from the mainland wished to stay in Hong Kong, while nowadays over 50 percent left right after graduation without consideration," Geng Chunya, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Mainland Graduates, told Xinhua, quoting figures collected by the association.

Geng, a mainlander who chose to remain in Hong Kong after acquiring his master's degree from the City University of Hong Kong in 2003, believes that one of the reasons that drove mainland students away is the salary level in Hong Kong has become less attractive when compared with that in the mainland.

In addition, high living cost, adaptation to local culture and lifestyle, and the need for family affection are also factors that prompt the students to think over it, he said, adding that overall, around 20 percent lived in Hong Kong for seven years, the period required to reside in here to become a permanent resident.

From January to May, 2015, Hong Kong's Immigration Department approved 915 applications filed by mainland people to stay in Hong Kong after graduating from universities here, close to 7 percent down from the same period last year.

Hong Kong universities used to be popular among mainland students and the competition has been fierce. For instance, last year, the University of Hong Kong, which enrolled 307 mainland students in its undergraduate programs, received over 10,000 applications, as for Hong Kong Baptist University, only 190 out of 3,900 mainland applicants managed to secure a place there.

Although local universities have been taking proactive approaches to recruit top students, the number of undergraduate applications from the mainland keeps shrinking and the drop is significant this year.

According to the local media, the number of mainland students applying for the undergraduate programs 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 the Baptist University has also recorded a 40-percent decrease to 2,319 applicants from 3,876.

Wong Chung Leung, principal of Heung To Middle School, said 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 Baptist University said it is not surprising that the number of mainland students applying for Hong Kong universities falls as the opportunities for them to study abroad grow. However, the university is still confident of recruiting top mainland students due to limited quota and keen 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. Endi