STUDY IN THE ANTIPODES has for some time been one answer to the terminally low number of higher education places available in Hong Kong. Australia and New Zealand offer excellent educational facilities and a wide choice of university courses.
'The Hong Kong A-Levels are the most difficult public exams leading to university,' said Jimmy Wong of the Hong Kong Overseas Study Centre, an education advisory service. Furthermore, 'when students finish their HKCEE [Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination] at the age of 17 it is very hard for them to continue with secondary school in Hong Kong because of the bottlenecks'.
Even those who finished secondary school here must face the reality of the majority of students not being able to get into a local university, Mr Wong said.
A popular time for Hong Kong students to head to Australia and New Zealand for further studies is after they completed their HKCEE.
In Australia you could 'fast-track' into university with the help of international university foundation courses, Mr Wong said. However, these courses were not open to local students, so for Hong Kong children to integrate with society, the better alternative might be Year 11 and 12 in Australia, or Year 12 and 13 in New Zealand.
Another significant point about study in Australasia was that secondary/tertiary education fees were far cheaper than they were in Britain, said Sing Wong, director of the Academic Link Overseas Studies Centre. Living expenses were also relatively cheap.
Rick Lam, director of Education South Australia, said advantages of studying in Australia were the flexibility of the education system, the small class sizes and the wide variety of subject choices. 'They are not just focused on academic achievement,' he said. 'In Year 11, for example, students are required to do a 10-week placement in the community, which forms part of their school assessment.'
