More than 1 in 4 Hong Kong secondary school leavers plan to study overseas after DSE exam, survey finds
- Twenty-six per cent of more than 500 teens polled say they plan to further their studies abroad if they are not admitted to their chosen local institutions
- Figure marks a rising trend of pupils looking to leave city, up from 25 per cent in 2020 and 19 per cent in 2019
More than one in four secondary school leavers in Hong Kong intend to study overseas, according to a poll by a youth organisation, which has found that the number of young people in the city following such trends remains high.
The poll involving more than 500 teens, released on Thursday by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (HKFYG), also found about half of the students continued to feel highly stressed about their university entrance exams, the results of which would be announced next Wednesday.
About 26 per cent of 569 Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) candidates polled between last month and Monday said they would choose to further their studies overseas if they were not admitted to their chosen local institutions, findings from the survey showed.
“We cannot rule out that a higher percentage of students planning to study overseas might be related to factors such as the trend of mass emigration … some of them might be leaving Hong Kong with their families,” said Hsu Siu-man, a service coordinator at HKFYG.
The city has been facing an exodus of pupils, with figures from the Education Bureau and teachers’ associations showing rising numbers of students leaving over the past year. Some of those leaving cited concerns about the Beijing-imposed national security law as well as prolonged suspension of in-person classes amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Hsu said that while many pupils tended to choose popular study destinations such as Britain and Australia, the survey did not ask respondents about their reasons behind leaving the city. The number of pupils choosing to study overseas was not directly equivalent to those who were planning to leave for good, she added.
Last year’s survey showed about 25 per cent of respondents said they would go overseas, an increase from around 19 per cent in 2019.
More than 49 per cent of the respondents also indicated – on a scale of one to 10 – a stress level of seven or above. This was a slight drop from last year’s nearly 52 per cent, which marked a record high since the DSE exams were first introduced in 2012.
The most common stress factors cited included the possibility of not being able to meet their own expectations (70 per cent) and progress in lessons being affected because of the suspension of face-to-face classes (60 per cent).
About 52,000 candidates sat for the DSE exams this year.
Some of Hong Kong’s best young minds plan to further education in city
Separately, another survey by a locally based education group polled 304 families with children aged between six and 18, and found that about 66 per cent of respondents had already or were intending to send their children to study overseas.
A “lack of confidence in the local education system” (51 per cent) and “Hong Kong’s current political climate” (42 per cent) were among the reasons cited for parents’ decisions, findings from the survey by Dadi Education released on Tuesday found.
