BEIJING - A total of 22 college students from Hong Kong finished their six-week internship at the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) Thursday.

They were the latest group of Hong Kong college students who joined the program, initiated by the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) last year, to intern at leading institutes of science and social sciences in the mainland.

The internship provided a rare opportunity for young people from Hong Kong to learn more about the country's scientific progress and nurture their interest in scientific research, said Carrie Lam, chief executive of HKSAR, at the closing ceremony in Beijing.

CAS assigned 18 leading scientists from the institutes of automation, computing technology, and software as mentors for the internship program covering lectures, experiments, and visits, according to the CAS.

Li Shushen, vice president of CAS, encouraged the students to not only accumulate knowledge but also learn to think from different perspectives and have faith in truth.

"I met the country's top-level research teams and learned about the most cutting-edge programs," said Nie Lun-yiu, one of the interns and a student from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "Our country's development is impressive."

This year, besides the ones at CAS, other Hong Kong interns went to the Palace Museum, Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province known for its giant panda protection program, and Dunhuang in Gansu Province, where the Mogao Grottoes, a UN world heritage site, are located.