Media

The University of Hong Kong eyes South America

01 Apr 2014

 

Representatives from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) recently returned from a week-long visit to Brazil to raise the visibility of Hong Kong and HKU as an educational destination, in order to further widen the diversity of students on the HKU campus.  Talks about the global trend towards studying in Asia were given to students at some of the top international high schools in Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo. 

As two of the four BRIC countries of the world, Brazil and China are likely to have increasing trade connections in the future, an important consideration for Brazilian students thinking beyond graduation. 

HKU also held talks with relevant government bodies in the capital city of Brasilia to discuss the Brazilian “Science without Borders” scheme – one of the world’s largest government-sponsored mobility programmes – with over 100,000 students to date having studied at top universities around the world for science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.

HKU representatives also met with the President and the Vice-President for International Relations of the University of São Paolo, one of the world’s leading universities, with whom a collaboration and international exchange agreement has already been agreed.

HKU is keen to attract the rapidly growing pool of talented South American students going abroad for their undergraduate studies. The University attracts tens of thousands of undergraduate applications from around the world each year, partly because of the virtually 100% employment record of its graduates for the last seven consecutive years.  As Asian academic standards are so high, the University can limit itself to accepting only the most talented students worldwide.  Expanding an understanding of the opportunities, including the provision of generous scholarships, to South American students will further enhance these high academic standards of HKU.

Professor John Spinks, Senior Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor at HKU said, “HKU has an excellent representation of international students from all over Asia, Europe and North America, but the number of South American students on campus is only 32 as of today.  We hope that this visit will help to increase that number and further develop the international atmosphere for HKU students, but, more importantly, that i will further the visibility of Hong Kong and HKU in a country whose economy is developing so rapidly.  The Brazilian people we met, from those in formal meetings to those we met informally, were truly hospitable, and we very much welcome them to HKU in future.”

For media enquiries, please contact: Ms Trinni Choy (Assistant Director (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2606 / email: pychoy@hku.hk or Ms Melanie Wan (Manager (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2600 / email: melwkwan@hku.hk; or Ms Rhea Leung (Manager (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) Tel: 2857 8555 email:rhea.leung@hku.hk.

About The University of Hong Kong:
Founded in 1911, HKU is the territory's oldest university, with a long heritage of academic excellence and service to the community. Today, HKU is a world-class comprehensive research-led university, with close to a hundred of its faculty ranked by the Institute for Scientific Information as being among the world's top 1% of scientists.

With a strong international outlook and a tradition of English language instruction, HKU attracts the best academic staff and the brightest students from the territory and around the world. The University is committed to nurturing talent and leaders for both the local and global community and to cultivating internationalism on campus. The University strongly supports international academic collaboration, and staff and student exchanges at all levels, with over 400 higher education institutions.

At present there are over 9,000 international students from almost 100 different nationalities, composing roughly 34% of the entire student body, at HKU including undergraduate and post-graduate students. HKU has been regarded as the best international university in Asia (the “Oxbridge of East Asia”, according to the Times Higher Education), and is currently ranked as the 26th best University in the world (according to Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2013).