High-flier schoolgirl aims to add dash of diversity to Hong Kong’s financial world as she earns place at top business school
- Janita Farooq, 17, gets HKU business school offer through school nominations direct admission scheme
- Youngster, first in family to go to university, said she did not believe teacher when told she had earned a place at HKU
A 17-year-old schoolgirl’s dream of adding more gender and ethnic diversity to the financial sector in Hong Kong took a step closer to reality after she was admitted to the business school at one of the city’s top universities.
Janita Farooq, from the Hong Kong Taoist Association The Yuen Yuen Institute No 3 Secondary School, has secured a place on the accounting and finance programme at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) through the school nominations direct admission route in late June.
The scheme was designed to give pupils with special talents and interests the chance of direct admission to city universities.
“I was doing housework when my teacher called to tell me I got the offer. I was extremely happy and my mother hugged me when she knew it,” Farooq said.
“It was unbelievable to me, so I kept on asking the teacher, ‘Are you sure?’”
She added her parents were “extra excited” because she was the first in her family to win a place at a university.
