Hong Kong design students benefit from studying in China
Two specialist design schools across the border are giving local students a passport to promising careers
Thousands of students are drawn to a design career, but degree places in the field are limited locally. While many opt for overseas universities as an alternative, some are venturing to study in China, acquiring a strong foundation in traditional techniques at top art academies.
According to the national Ministry of Education, the number of Hong Kong students studying at Chinese universities rose from 11,155 in 2011 to 15,330 in 2014.
Local students normally take the Joint Entrance Examination to study in China. In 2014, 322 out of 509 students who took the exam were admitted, according to the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA).
Students can choose not to take the exam and instead apply directly to 78 universities in China in a separate admission scheme with their Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education results. Other universities in China also recruit Hong Kong students individually.
Hong Kong student Wen Shiming had to pass a gruelling seven-hour sketching examination in addition to the exam to enter the elite Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, which has enrolled more than 200 students from Hong Kong since 2005.
"In Guangdong province alone, over 30,000 students applied to the academy but only 800 were accepted," Wen says.