90% pass rate for Hong Kong’s mainland-based DSE pupils, exceeding city average

More than 90 per cent of Hong Kong students from four mainland Chinese schools met the city’s university’s minimum requirements in the local public exams, far exceeding the overall average of 38 per cent of all assessment candidates.

The four schools in the Greater Bay Area are the only institutions on the mainland approved by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority to register their students as school candidates for the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exams. Students pursuing the curriculum elsewhere must register as private candidates.

In 2024, when the first group of mainland-based Hong Kong students sat the exams in the city, there were only two such schools. Three of the current four schools also serve as designated examination centres.

Following the recent release of DSE results, the four schools reported that more than 90 per cent of their graduates met the basic university entrance requirements for institutions in Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China and Taiwan.

Two schools, the Minxin Hong Kong School in Guangzhou and the Shenzhen Hong Kong Pui Kiu College Longhua Xinyi School, reported that more than 90 per cent of their students met the threshold for local undergraduate programmes.

The threshold, commonly known as “332A”, requires a level 3 in both Chinese and English, a level 2 in mathematics, and an “attained” in citizenship and social development.