Happy campus
An increasing number of Hong Kong students are choosing to study abroad, writes Linda Yeung
At the age of 14, Keith Ho Ho-yin spent his first month at a British boarding school feeling bitterly homesick. Now a final-year chemistry major at University of Bristol, he is settled, has become more independent, and is happy mingling with people from various ethnic backgrounds.
Keith enjoys campus life and is busy with club activities at weekends. He is grateful his parents let him study his subject of choice, and sympathises with Hong Kong students whose parents pressure them to take subjects leading to well-paid jobs, such as those in medicine and law. Keith says his "funny" chemistry teacher inspired him to study science.
"Every week we had two lab sessions. Sometimes he would show us some interesting experiments after school. Chemistry is a really fun subject," says Keith, who returned to Hong Kong for the summer holiday. Choosing a subject he is passionate about has made his time in Bristol all the more worthwhile.
More and more Hong Kong students are studying overseas, particularly in Britain. The British Council reported a 37 per cent rise in Hong Kong applications for British universities this year, with a 32 per cent rise since 2008. Census statistics from last year show that of the 75,000 local students studying abroad, 26 per cent were in Britain, 24 per cent in Australia and 20 per cent in the United States. Ten per cent opted for places on the mainland.
More than two out of three overseas students are in tertiary education and 30 per cent in secondary schools.