Chongqing- "I am satisfied with my choice of study in the Chinese Mainland," said Liu Di, a Hongkonger who graduated from the Southwest University of Political Science & Law in Chongqing and currently is a professional lawyer at Chongqing's Zhongshi Law Firm.

During an application guidance lecture years ago, Liu learned that the Chinese mainland offers Hong Kong students a range of preferential treatment, including preferential admission schemes, low tuition fees, government financial assistance, and scholarships. After taking the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for students from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese students in 2011, Liu was admitted to the law school of Southwest University of Political Science & Law, one of the oldest political science and law universities in China.

In recent years, the Chinese mainland universities have become increasingly popular for Hong Kong students pursuing further education. According to data from the Chinese Center for Scholarly Exchange(Hong Kong), 4,890 Hong Kong students have taken the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) to seek full-time study in the Chinese mainland in 2022; an increase of 2.2 percent over last year.

In addition, students who take the JEE are eligible to apply to 291 universities on the Chinese mainland, which is a broader selection than the HKDSE.

In the past, Hong Kong students and parents tended to pay more attention to universities in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. However, with the continuous social and economic development of inland cities, more and more Hong Kong people are concerned about colleges in some inland cities, such as Hubei, Xi'an, Sichuan, and Chongqing.

About 750 Hong Kong students are currently studying in Sichuan Province and Chongqing. Compared to first-tier cities, Liu believes Western China has more career potential. With three years of work experience in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, he returned to Chongqing in 2019.

As Hong Kong students are increasingly choosing the Chinese mainland for higher education, Liu said it was good news since the educational exchanges have promoted people-to-people contact.

(Deng Mengyu, Yan Jundan, and Li Yan, as interns, also contributed to the report.)