UK boarding schools can also offer a route back to Hong Kong universities
Hong Kong parents continue to send their children to British boarding schools for A-levels in preparation for a British university, but many also use it as a route back into Hong Kong's highly competitive universities, a new British Council study has found.
Previous research showed that Hong Kong families opted for Britain if they could not get into university in Hong Kong. As in the past, most families applying to boarding schools in Britain use it as a stepping stone to a UK university application - only 3.4 per cent of those who attend UK boarding schools, leave the country for university education.
A levels abroad is still a solely university-focused sentiment
"This is evidence of parents sending their children abroad to undertake widely recognised secondary qualifications in lieu of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education," according to the council's just-released report, Parent Perspectives: Sending Hong Kong Students Abroad for School.
But of those who leave the UK for university, 15 per cent head to Hong Kong - the number two destination after the US for those not intending to stay in Britain.
About 12 per cent of the 204 Hong Kong parents surveyed said they wanted their children to return to Hong Kong for university education - indicating that they intend to apply through the international student route. "This route can be seen to be less competitive than the Hong Kong local route," says Zainab Malik, research manager, British Council in Hong Kong.
The academic quality of boarding schools, rather than specific location, and access to their university of choice are still the prime motivations for heading to Britain between the ages of 13 and 17, while most say 16 is the best age to make the transfer. This shows that opting for A-levels abroad is still a "solely university-focused sentiment", says Malik.
Hong Kong sends the most secondary school students to Britain globally, although this number has fallen slightly, by 5.3 per cent, in the past year. At present, 5,732 students from Hong Kong are enrolled at Independent Schools Commission-registered UK boarding schools.