I am currently a student of HKU and I came from Sabah. I am doing the double degree which consist of Engineering as my primary (Complete within 3 yrs) and Business (2nd degree to be taken in 4th year).

For your info, Hku ranked 18 in the world by times 2007, which is the 2nd top in asia, just after tokyo u. For the 2008 ranking, Hku ranked 26 in the world, which is the 3rd in asia, after tokyo u , and kyoto u .

For Hku, the most demanding course is the Actuarial science, followed by medicine, law , business , and science related courses. If I am not wrong, the department of business is the largest in the whole uni, around 7 in 10 of the international students are studying business related subjects (I consider myself one of them, since I am doing the double degree).

For comparison, Hku is good in medicine, law, Business, and some science related course.
Hkust is good in engineering, all science related subjects, and business. But from what I know, most of the students from Hkust are facing extreme stress from their learning, this is because of their extremely strict curricula requirement and heavy workloads. Imagine, a uni which established in 1991 and climb up to top 50 in the world uni ranking, all within 20 yrs, and you will figure out how stress the uni is. But for reputation, Hku is the best, follow by cuhk, and hkust. And for the employment rate, Hku is the highest because it is the oldest, with tons of graduates and alumni.

For Malaysian student, they accept A-level , Stpm , and UEC . They admit international students using the Non-Jupas scheme, where applicants need to register online through the uni website.

If you want any further info, just pm me. I am the student ambassador of the uni, I am always happy to help.