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Following is a question by the Hon Yeung Sum and a reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (March 12):
Question:
Since the 1994/95 academic year, the number of places for publicly-funded first-year first-degree ("FYFD") programmes has been maintained at 14,500. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the respective percentages of the people in Singapore, Shanghai, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom who are attending universities and are at the appropriate age for that;
(b) as I have learnt that the percentage of the people in Hong Kong attending universities at the appropriate age for that has all along been lower than those of the neighbouring regions, whether the Government has assessed if the insufficient places for attending universities will lead to an outflow of talents, thereby affecting Hong Kong's pace of development into a knowledge-based economy; and
(c) as the unemployment rate of degree holders in the fourth quarter of last year was only 1.9%, reflecting a keen demand for these talents in the current market, whether the Government will gradually expand the number of places for publicly-funded FYFD programmes; if it will, of the details and implementation schedule of the expansion plan; if it will not, the specific difficulties for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) According to information provided by the Ministry of Education of Singapore, the university cohort participation rate (Note 1) of the relevant age cohort admitted to the three publicly-funded universities in Singapore in 2007 is about 23.5%. Separately, according to information published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the respective net entry rates (Note 2) of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States in 2005 were 82%, 51% and 64% respectively. We do not have relevant information in respect of Shanghai. However, according to the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, the gross enrolment ratio (Note 3) in the Mainland in 2007 stood at 23%.
(b) and (c) Different places adopt different methodologies when calculating the participation rate in respect of tertiary education. There are also disparities with regard to factors such as economic conditions, education system, historical background, population structure, culture, manpower requirements and developmental needs. Conclusions made solely on the basis of the tertiary education participation rates in different places which use different calculation methodologies will thus fail to provide a fair picture.
In determining the approved student number targets for publicly-funded places in the University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded sector, the Administration will take into account various educational, social and economic considerations. These include, among others, the projected student population of the relevant age cohort, the quality of student intakes, the development of the publicly-funded and self-financing post-secondary sectors, the Government's fiscal position, as well as the manpower requirements and economic development trends of Hong Kong.
While the number of FYFD places has remained unchanged since the 1994/95 academic year, there were developments on other fronts which have led to increases in the tertiary education opportunities for the relevant age cohort. For instance, the UGC-funded institutions have provided articulation opportunities for students having sub-degree or other relevant qualifications through the provision of publicly-funded senior year places. In this regard, the UGC-funded institutions will provide a total of 2,894 publicly-funded Year 2 and Year 3 undergraduate places in the 2008/09 academic year. Furthermore, the Administration has facilitated the development of self-financed post-secondary education sector in Hong Kong, including private universities. At present, the self-financed post-secondary education institutions provide a total of some 2,500 FYFD and 1,600 top-up degree places. Apart from the above programmes, over 21,000 students were studying at non-local undergraduate programmes in 2006.
In addition, recent years have seen a rapid growth of our self-financing sub-degree sector. The number of programmes has increased from 20 in 2000 to over 270 nowadays, with the annual student intake increasing from 2,600 to over 20,000 students. As a result, over 60% of our young people of the relevant age cohort now enjoy access to tertiary education.
While being mindful of the quantity of student places available, we are also concerned about the quality of programmes offered. As a matter of fact, the provision of 14,500 publicly-funded FYFD places already cater, to a large extent, for the needs of those local students whose Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination results meet the minimum entry requirements for university admission.
The Administration will keep in view the development of our higher education sector, including the number of publicly-funded FYFD places, to ensure that it can meet the education needs of our students as well as the manpower requirements of Hong Kong. We will also examine ways to better support the further development of the self-financing sector so as to provide more higher education opportunities with quality to our students.
Note 1: The university cohort participation rate refers to the percentage of Singaporean and permanent resident students per primary one cohort who are admitted to university each year.
Note 2: The net entry rate represents the proportion of people of a synthetic age-cohort who enter the tertiary level of education, irrespective of changes in the population size and differences between OECD countries in the typical starting age of tertiary education.
Note 3: The gross enrolment ratio = [total number of students pursuing tertiary education in a particular academic year/population of the 18-22 age cohort of a particular year] x 100%
Ends/Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:16
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