More than 400 parents of high school juniors attended the consultation meeting of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for prospective students on Sunday.

With only 400 seats in the lecture room of the Beijing Institute of Technology where the meeting was held, some parents were asked to stand in the far recesses of the hall and even on the stairs.

The university aims to recruit 230 students from the mainland in 2010, said Laura Lo, director of Chinese Mainland Affairs in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, adding that it typically receives as many as 4,000 applications each year.

Lo said annual tuition fees were set at about HK$80,000, or 71,000 yuan, with accommodation costing an extra HK$40,000.

She said the university would offer at least 50 scholarships for mainland students. Schools and faculties would also offer some scholarships, ranging from HK$5,000 to HK$110,000 each, she added.

"There were not too many parents today because of the bad weather," said a man surnamed Li, whose son attends the Beijing No 11 High School.

Li said he had already been to three such meetings for universities from Hong Kong.

The father said he wanted to send his son to Hong Kong because its teaching standards were improved by Western influences.

"Professors in Hong Kong are better because they are dedicated to their jobs, but those in the mainland pay greater attention to how to earn money," Li said.

He added that the close proximity to the mainland was a major attraction though, Li told METRO.

"China is playing an increasingly important role in the world and I do not want my son moved too far from it," Li said.

According to statistics from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, more than 60 percent of their 2008 graduates from the mainland remained in Hong Kong for employment.

"I hope my son can work in Hong Kong for several years after he graduates because it will really help his future career," said Liu Jun, another father whose son was considering Hong Kong universities for further study. Liu said it was his son's choice to move to Hong Kong after he graduates from the High School affiliated to Beijing Normal University.

"Although he can easily enter into an elite university on the mainland, he prefers Hong Kong because its environment differs from Beijing," Liu said.
 
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Hong Kong Baptist University also held consultation meetings in the capital on Saturday.

Julia Leung, assistant director of the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said they would hold a consultation meeting in Beijing in April and planned to recruit 19 students with four scholarships on offer.