A recent study by the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) revealed that a large number of mainland secondary school students preferred to study abroad, with only 3.8 per cent choosing Hong Kong as their favoured place for tertiary education.
More than 17 per cent of those surveyed intended to pursue further education in the United States.
France and Britain ranked second and third with 12.4 and 11.2 per cent respectively while Hong Kong came 10th.
A further 23 per cent of respondents said they would want to study abroad, even if they were accepted by prestigious universities like Peking or Tsinghua.
More than 12,900 students from cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing took part in the survey.
Leslie Lo, director of CUHK's Institute of Educational Research, said the survey showed that not enough was being done to promote Hong Kong tertiary education on the mainland.