But getting a postgraduate degree is no trivial matter. It costs a lot of money and requires a tremendous amount of time and effort on the part of the candidate. However, those three elements alone are not enough to guarantee success.

A positive attitude to learning is highly prized by those in charge of selecting postgraduate candidates.

'The student must have a strong sense of curiosity and an understanding of how and why things work,' said Wong Wing-shing, dean of the Graduate School at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

'They need the urge to be innovative, to invent and create something that is their own because they have to do original work, and they have to do this well,' he said.

University of Hong Kong Centre on Behavioural Health director Cecilia Chan Lai-wan values enthusiasm, a diverse skill set and passion.

'In our programme, we look for people who are enthusiastic in their profession. They should also be interested in innovation and be good in different things like art, dancing and singing,' Professor Chan said.

The centre's Master of Social Science in Behavioural Health is a new and pioneering programme that targets health care and social service professionals and adopts a holistic approach to promoting health, including the use of alternative techniques such as artwork, dance therapy and meditation.

Research is a big part of many postgraduate courses, especially the research-based MPhil and PhD programmes, so admission directors look for candidates who are able to demonstrate the ability to do research independently.

Tang Tao, director of the Graduate School at Hong Kong Baptist University, said: 'They should have some kind of research talent, a desire for research and for a deeper understanding of the nature of their subject so that they can make a deeper contribution to the area.

'The motivation and genuine love for research is very important. This type of work can be quite boring, but if they really like it they can really contribute to society by writing books and high-quality papers,' Professor Tang said.

Professor Chan said: 'They have to be very passionate about their topic. They should know this quite well and bring with them their own experience and research interest.'

Maturity, creativity and intelligence are other criteria that admission boards look for. All candidates, especially in research, are often required to write a research proposal detailing the scope of their topic.

Professor Wong said: 'This is an opportunity for the student to show how much they know about their area of research. The [admission] panel uses this as a way to test their suitability.'

Admission boards also rely on prior academic results, interviews and academic reference letters from the candidate's previous professors as ways to determine if they are suitable material for the gruelling postgraduate work ahead.

English-language proficiency is another important prerequisite for postgraduate degree candidates because theses in Hong Kong are mostly written in English.

Only in certain cases are students allowed to write in Chinese, an example being the Chinese Literature postgraduate course at Chinese University.

'When you do research you need to read extensively. A lot of the time you need to read English-language papers and research documents,' Professor Wong said.

Candidates generally need to show TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores or those of some other basic English test, although, for Professor Wong, a basic degree from HKU fulfils the English-language requirement.

Work experience, while not necessary, is valued by admissions directors.

Professor Chan said: 'I would prefer research students to be experienced in their own professions.

'Students join postgraduate programmes to learn from us and to learn from each other. They participate in the team and become contributors.

'We help them borrow and learn from other people's models, but with an in-depth consolidation of their own strength. We encourage them to come up with something that is directly relevant to their own setting, to understand themselves much more.'

Alan Au Kai-ming, associate professor at the Open University of Hong Kong, said: 'When people with diverse backgrounds engage in academic dialogue, they can stimulate each other.'

He referred to the MBA programme at the university which attracted working people from all walks of life.

'They can explore, discuss openly and learn from each other. They can see how people working in other disciplines think and be exposed to different environments. This is more beneficial than just getting the piece of paper. This is more than just a paper chase,' Dr Au said.

The Open University was set up by the Hong Kong government in 1989 to provide quality education for working adults, and is a full university that runs bachelor to doctoral level programmes.

Its philosophy is to provide the opportunity for as many people as possible to get a degree. Student numbers are not governed by quotas, unlike the other universities in Hong Kong

'But this doesn't mean that everyone will graduate,' said Dr Au, alluding to the standards which the university upheld.