Preface

When operating a school in Zhuhai, students with Hong Kong or Macao residency represent a group we encounter every year. The most common question parents ask during consultations is: “Since my child has Hong Kong or Macao residency, how exactly does it affect their educational pathways?”

This question deserves a serious answer. The impact of Hong Kong and Macao residency on further education is greater than many people imagine, and more concrete than others might think—it is not a “free pass” to success, but rather opens up several additional pathways while also presenting certain choices that must be carefully considered in advance.

In today’s article, we’ll lay this matter out clearly.

1 First, let’s clarify: what does it mean to “have Hong Kong or Macao residency”?

When we refer to “students with Hong Kong or Macao residency,” we usually mean students who hold a Hong Kong or Macao Resident Identity Card and also possess either the Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents (commonly known as the Home Return Permit) or the Residence Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents. Having both of these documents is required to participate in… National Joint Recruitment and the basic entry requirements of the Diploma Examination Admissions Scheme.

It’s worth noting that documents have expiration dates. The Home Return Permit is valid for ten years (five years for minors), and residence permits must be renewed on schedule. School enrollment applications are all tied to specific application windows, and trying to replace expired documents afterward can easily cause you to miss the deadline. If you have students with Hong Kong or Macao residency, it’s advisable to check the validity of their documents at the start of each school year.

2 The first path: National Joint Entrance Examination, taking the exam for mainland Chinese universities

The full name of the National Joint Entrance Examination is “Joint Enrollment of Overseas Chinese, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Students by General Institutions of Higher Education.” It is the most common pathway for students from Hong Kong and Macao to enter universities in mainland China.

According to the 2026 regulations, key details are as follows: registration runs from March 1 to 31, and the exam is scheduled for May 23–24. Science and engineering candidates take Chinese, Mathematics, English, Physics, and Chemistry; humanities and social sciences candidates take Chinese, Mathematics, English, History, and Geography. Each subject is graded out of 150 points, for a total of 750 points. During admissions, applicants submit applications to 10 undergraduate institutions, with results announced in early July.

Compared with the standard national college entrance examination, the most significant difference of the joint enrollment exam lies not in its difficulty but in the “track”: candidates do not compete alongside the tens of millions of mainland students; instead, they are placed in a separate pool exclusive to candidates from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. Competition certainly exists—and has been intensifying in recent years—but the admissions process operates on a fundamentally different logic.

There is also a clear statement regarding tuition fees: according to the admission guidelines, students admitted through the joint enrollment scheme are charged the same tuition rates as mainland Chinese students in the same institution and major, and they also receive the same healthcare benefits. In other words, once enrolled at the same university, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan students and mainland students pay the same for meals, dormitory accommodation, and tuition.

What many parents are really concerned about is the more straightforward question: Is the Joint Entrance Examination easier than the Gaokao? This can be examined from three perspectives. First, there are fewer subjects: only five are tested—candidates in the humanities and social sciences streams do not take politics, while those in the science and engineering streams skip biology—so students who struggled with certain subjects in high school have one or two less burdens to bear. Second, the overall difficulty is relatively lower: the math syllabus sets a lower standard than the Gaokao, and the exam questions tend to focus on fundamental concepts. Third, the pool of competitors is much smaller: in 2025, approximately 13.35 million students registered for the national Gaokao, whereas the Joint Entrance Examination attracted only about 12,000 candidates—a difference of several orders of magnitude. That year, roughly 8.6% of Joint Entrance Examination takers gained admission to 985 universities, more than five times the corresponding rate for the Gaokao.

But let’s be clear: this path is returning to normal. In 2025, the minimum cut-off scores for humanities and social sciences rose to 430, while for science and engineering they reached 460—the largest increases in a decade—and the undergraduate admission rate fell to around 53%. The days when “anyone scoring above the line could get into university” are over; today’s Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS) resembles a scaled-down version of the Gaokao—fewer applicants and easier questions—but gaining entry to top institutions still requires serious preparation.

3 The second path: DSE , one exam covers three regions

The Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) is the local university entrance examination in Hong Kong. For students with Hong Kong identity, its value lies in “one exam, three pathways”:

Northward — Participate in the “Mainland Universities Admission Scheme for Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination Students” and apply to mainland universities without examinations based on your DSE results. In the 2026/27 academic year, the number of participating mainland universities has reached 165, an increase of 20 compared with the previous academic year; these include Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Sun Yat-sen University, and others. Applications are typically accepted in December each year.

Southward — Applying to local Hong Kong universities based on DSE results is the most common pathway for Hong Kong students.

Outward — DSE offers a greater number of subjects assessed in English, and its results are recognized by numerous universities in the UK, Australia, Singapore, and other regions, serving as a complementary alternative to international qualifications such as A-Levels.

For Hong Kong and Macao students studying in Mainland China, the DSE allows them to register as private candidates, without requiring them to have studied in Hong Kong. In other words, it is operationally feasible for students to complete an international curriculum in Zhuhai while preparing for the DSE—though they will need to plan their preparation well in advance; it is best to start early rather than delay.

The “friendliness” of the DSE comes with a precondition—the precondition is Hong Kong identity. The DSE offers two pathways for further education: students with Hong Kong identity take the local student track ( JUPAS ), Among the approximately 15,000 bachelor’s degree places offered annually by Hong Kong’s eight major universities, over 80% are reserved for local students; in 2025, about one-third of local candidates admitted to these eight universities and the City University of Hong Kong through JUPAS will have taken subjects with generally lower difficulty levels than those in the Gaokao, and except for English, all exams can be answered in simplified Chinese. In the same year, fewer than 2% of admissions to 985 universities under the Gaokao system were filled through this pathway.

Students without Hong Kong identity follow a completely different pathway: they apply as non-local students and compete alongside IB and A-Level candidates from around the world. The overall admission rate for non-local students at Hong Kong universities is less than 6%, and for Mainland Chinese students alone it is only about 4%. Moreover, tuition fees are charged at non-local rates—more than four times those for local students. For this group, the DSE is not a shortcut; to apply to Hong Kong universities, international curriculum results such as A-Levels are the standard route.

So remember this key point: the benefits of the DSE are tied to residency status. Whether your child has Hong Kong residency directly determines how viable this pathway is, so be sure to verify this before applying.

4 Applying to universities in Macau: Joint Examination of Four Schools

For students with Macao residency, there is another often-overlooked pathway: the Joint Entrance Examination of Macao’s Four Universities (commonly known as the “Four‑University Joint Exam”), which is open to applicants wishing to enter the University of Macau, the Macao Polytechnic University, the Institute for Tourism Studies, and the Macau University of Science and Technology.

This is the most “lenient” of the admission routes. The exam covers only three standardized subjects—Chinese, English, and Mathematics (with Portuguese available as an option)—and there are no comprehensive arts or science exams. Moreover, the English test does not include listening or speaking components. Overall, the difficulty level is lower than that of the Joint Entrance Examination and the National Higher Education Entrance Examination. The scale is also smaller: in recent years, about 4,000 candidates have applied each year, and places at the four participating institutions remain relatively plentiful.

Its flexibility lies in the structure: registration is in January, with exams in March, completely staggered from the May Joint University Admissions System and the DSE schedule in April–May. A single exam result allows applicants to apply simultaneously to all four schools, each of which conducts independent admissions; it is common for a student to receive two or three offers at once, providing a high margin for error. Moreover, the results of the four-school joint exam can also be used to apply to more than 20 universities on the mainland, including many 985 and 211 institutions, effectively offering Macao students an additional layer of security.

Hong Kong‑registered families should note: Hong Kong students may also sit for the Four‑School Joint Entrance Examination, but their scores are valid only for applying to Macau’s four universities and cannot be used to apply to mainland Chinese institutions—“using Four‑School results to enter top mainland universities” is a policy exclusive to Macau residents. Moreover, when admissions are made, the four schools give priority to local students; as non‑locals, Hong Kong students can only compete for the remaining places. If your goal is a mainland university, there is no need to add an extra set of exam preparations for this purpose.

5 International Programs with Direct Pathways Abroad

This pathway is the “home turf” of our program. Students with Hong Kong or Macao residency, like their Mainland Chinese counterparts, can use their A-Level results to apply directly to universities in the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, as well as in Hong Kong and Macao. For these students, holding Hong Kong or Macao status is primarily a safety net: if overseas applications don’t pan out, they still have the Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS), the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE), and the Four-University Joint Entrance Examination as fallback options. Conversely, if overseas applications are successful, these domestic routes provide additional choices.

When it comes to further education, the biggest risk is having only one path. The greatest value of Hong Kong and Macao residency status is turning a “do-or-die” gamble into a well‑grounded, strategic choice.

6 Identity is a door, not insurance

Having mentioned these few paths, I must say this: each additional path offers another layer of choice.

Each pathway has a different exam focus—the Joint Entrance Examination follows the mainland Chinese system, testing Chinese, Mathematics, English, and the combined Arts/Science subjects; the DSE and the Four Schools Joint Admission Scheme each have their own frameworks and marking criteria; and A‑Levels constitute yet another system altogether. Trying to master them all often leaves you with a weak grasp of everything. A more pragmatic approach is “one primary, one backup”: choose a main track, excel in it, and use the alternative pathway afforded by your qualifications as a safety net.

We recommend that families from Hong Kong and Macao begin exploring the differences among these pathways as early as Grades 1 and 2, and decide on their primary focus before Grade AS. If you’re unsure, feel free to schedule a consultation with an admissions counselor to evaluate your child’s academic profile, language proficiency, and target regions together.

What does having a Hong Kong or Macao identity mean? It means that children in the same classroom may have several different doors open before them. The point isn’t to squeeze through every single one; rather, it’s to walk more confidently through the door you’ve chosen.