Although it's not widely known among Hong Kong students, education on the mainland has proven to be hugely beneficial, according to those who have taken the plunge.
With the mainland emerging as the No 1 economic powerhouse in the Asia Pacific region, mainland experience and contacts are now invaluable. Many of Hong Kong's best and brightest are including top mainland universities in their considerations.
Studying on the mainland is also less expensive than in Hong Kong, where associate and self-financed degrees cost about HK$50,000. Annual university tuition on the mainland for a Hong Kong student is only 4,500 yuan (HK$5,314).
'Both tuition fees and living expenses are cheaper on the mainland,' says Yip Chee-tim, principal of Pui Ching Middle School.
Fukien Secondary School principal Wong Kwan-yu says more than 20 of the school's students have gone to mainland universities over the past five years. He says all of those who graduated landed good jobs.
'All of them have come back to work,' he says. 'Their salaries aren't less than those of local graduates. They are now working in all kinds of industries, like tourism.'