Improvement is born from competition. However, the yearly enrollment war between top Chinese universities seems to bring no improvement to the current situation of education on the Chinese mainland.

Now pressures coming from outside seem to be changing this situation.

As reported heavily in the press, Hong Kong University has harvested a bumper crop of top mainland students this year. To this day, it has accepted 11 top scorers from the national college entrance examinations (gaokao), nearly double that of last year's intake, and is awaiting replies from two others.

It could be a blow to some prestigious universities like Peking University, Tsinghua University and Fudan University. Particularly, the former two universities have long taken for granted their status as the destination for the best students. They cannot ignore their prized recruits being snatched from under their noses.

However, this competition from outside the mainland can be a good thing, if treated sensibly. If it is able to make mainland colleges feel challenged, it might force a speeding-up of higher education reform.

Education is said to be the last bastion of reform in China's planned economy. The problems in higher education, such as administrative intervention, conservative curriculum structure and incapacity to cultivate talents, have been broadly criticized .

We cannot bury the authorities' efforts in past years. Higher education reform has been happening in many areas, including practice teaching, a new personnel system, curriculum design, and a selection and enrollment system. For example, since 2003, 22 universities have let in students independently through interviews, with their scores in the gaokao only acting as a reference. More universities have been following suit.

The competition to grab the top students has been fierce among mainland universities. The problem is that some are not competing on academic merit alone but by employing other "creative" tricks. The media revealed on Sunday that one university has lied to potential candidates by telling them they had been rejected by another top college, in order to nab them instead.

While a reform initiated from inside works to a certain extent, a little push from outside might help find the answer quicker.

In recent years, more and more high school graduates have abandoned the gaokao to spend their college years abroad. The reasons the students cited are similar with those of Hong Kong universities: They have a better research atmosphere, better academic integrity, international vision, freer choice of classes and less administrative interference.

Just like how China has adapted since joining the WTO, it seems that sometimes the country only becomes aware of a crucial matter once external pressures are near at hand, and only then can it take decisive action. It is hoped the exterior challenges will motivate reform for higher education on the Chinese mainland.