To meet the soaring demand for university education, the government has encouraged the rise of private universities by providing them with land and interest-free start-up loans. But students have griped about the higher-than-usual tuition fees, ranging from HK$50,000 to more than HK$100,000 a year, and less well-equipped campuses.

Tony Hui Chun-pong pays higher tuition fees than most other university students - HK$60,000 a year - and doesn't have a room in a dormitory. Thousands of school graduates are expected to join the ranks in September, having been denied places at the eight government-funded tertiary institutions based on their Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education examination results.

Writes Linda Yeung for South China Morning Post.