Driven by the country's rapid economic growth and the promise of better employment prospects, the mainland's continuing education sector is booming, with numerous local and overseas providers jostling for a share of the market.
There are more than 3,000 education agencies offering professional and continuing education programmes in Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai alone, a figure which excludes similar courses offered by universities.
'Ten years ago, people in China had no idea what professional and executive development training was,' says Dr Liu Ning, associate director of the University of Hong Kong's School of Professional and Continuing Education (HKU Space), and head of its newly formed Institute for China Business. 'But people are increasingly seeing it as a necessity. They have seen the results of what education can do and understand that without further training, they are unlikely to move up [in their careers]. Opportunities in the professional and continuous education market are huge.'
It's so large that HKU Space in February set up the Institute for China Business, a centre dedicated to providing professional education programmes for mainland executives in Hong Kong and across the border.
Though competition in the mainland market is rife, Liu believes an established institution, such as HKU Space, has a distinct advantage over local universities.
'Mainland institutions are good at looking at the macro view, but not the micro. They are good at strategy, but not so good at implementing it. Conversely, universities in Hong Kong are very good at the tactics required to implement a plan. That is where Hong Kong has its strength,' he explains.
This autumn, in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, the institute will launch a series of general management programmes covering areas such as human resources, marketing, finance, integrated strategic management and global investment and operations, to meet the needs of rising mainland middle managers. Shorter courses on corporate social responsibility, business ethics, crisis management and investor relations will also be introduced.