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A candidate comes out of the interview room feeling confident in Guangzhou city on Saturday, June 28, 2008.

Hot topics closely related to the lives of students were included in some interviews of Hong Kong colleges for mainland candidates in southern China's Guangdong Province during the last three days of June.

Guangzhou-based New Express reported that the questions included CNN's remarks on Tibet and how to judge the behavior of "Runner Fan", a teacher who left his students behind during the May 12 earthquake.

According to a teacher from the University of Hong Kong, the questions were raised to judge the characters of the candidates. There were no specific correct answers. All kinds of opinions expressed clearly can be accepted.

The hot topics were welcomed by the candidates, who said these questions encourage students to care more about current affairs rather than only paying attention to textbooks.

"Everyone can have something to say with such topics, and these questions can also reflect the analyzing and responding capabilities of the candidates." said a student from Zhanjiang city.

Also, whether the students can adapt to Hong Kong became an important standard when recruiting mainland students this year.

Considering incidents of some mainland students committing suicide while studying in Hong Kong or quitting, questions such as potential problems of studying in Hong Kong and how to deal with self-crisis were highlighted during the interviews.

New forms were also applied to the interviews. Group discussions of various kinds made the interviews more comfortable for the students. All interviews were taken in English.

Some five hundred Guangdong candidates with high scores in the National College Entrance Examination bid for several prestigious Hong Kong colleges.

According to the Ministry of Education, except the Chinese University of Hong Kong and City University of Hong Kong, which are included in the national recruiting system, all other Hong Kong universities are requested to complete their recruitment of mainland students by July 7.