Mr. Man Ho Chong – Former Principal of St. Francis Xavier’s School, Tsuen Wan

Universities in Ireland seldom enter into the minds of Hong Kong secondary school graduates. Some students may still have the notion that Ireland is some rural area of UK. To be frank, I did not have much understanding of universities in Ireland before the Visit too. Thanks to the arrangements made by the Irish International Education Center, the principals of Hong Kong secondary schools now have the chance to have a much better understanding of university education in Ireland. Recently I had a student whose public examination result in Hong Kong was only average. He was unable to attain a university place locally. He took a pre-university course at the Irish International Hotel & Catering School and then entered directly into the second year of University College Cork. Now, he is in his final year and has won the “Top Non-EU student Award”. I am really surprised to see his development. I do hope I can see more of my students finding a suitable environment to maximize their full potential.