A 15-year-old girl will be among the first batch of top mainland students to join Hong Kong University.
Outstanding student Guo Xiaoxi completed her secondary education in less than six years by 'jumping classes'. Students in the SAR usually join universities at 18 or 19.
Xiaoxi will spend her first year at Beijing's Tsinghua University and the following three years at Hong Kong University.
Deputy registrar Henry Wai Wing-kun said Hong Kong University initially hesitated about accepting the girl.
'She's so young that we dared not consider her at the beginning. We feared she might be immature and would have problems studying and living in Hong Kong away from her family,' he said.
'But her performance really surprised us. She's so good that we couldn't reject her.' The student was asked in English during an interview what she thought her weaknesses were. After a few seconds, she answered: 'I am ugly.' A university spokesman said: 'She's not ugly. But she's clever to say appearance was her only weakness. You wouldn't imagine a mainland student giving this answer.' The Government has announced a pilot scheme to recruit 450 top students from the mainland in the next four years to boost student quality and reinforce cultural links.
