Under the terms of the deal, a number of top-performing Chinese students will be offered a place to study engineering at HKU, with the best being invited to switch to a four-year degree at Cambridge after their first year.

The partnership will effectively cast HKU in the role of a ¡°feeder¡± institution, but fewer than 15 students will be offered a place at Cambridge, with the first starting in 2013.

Geoff Parks, admissions director at Cambridge, said HKU had approached the university to suggest the partnership because it ¡°believes that the link will help them recruit the best students from [mainland] China¡±.

¡°The school-leaving standards from Chinese schools are highly variable from province to province, so many very able Chinese students could not manage the transition direct from school to study at Cambridge,¡± Dr Parks said.

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¡°The first year at HKU bridges that gap, preparing students for study at Cambridge. Only the very best from those who apply will be offered places at Cambridge.¡±

Dr Parks stressed that Cambridge was not specifically targeting Chinese students, but trying to recruit the ¡°best students from all over the world¡±.

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¡°China happens to be a very large country that is very actively encouraging its young people to become engineers, so it is likely to generate a lot of good potential applicants,¡± he said.

But he added: ¡°It must be emphasised that we are not expecting very many students to come to Cambridge via this route.¡±

Chinese students who are accepted by Cambridge will graduate with a bachelor¡¯s and master¡¯s degree as the year at HKU will be classed as a foundation year.

The scheme may also be open to Hong Kong students studying engineering at HKU whose first-year grades are judged to be ¡°exceptional¡±.

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If the scheme is successful, Cambridge has indicated that there may be scope to extend it to other disciplines.