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Following is a question by the Hon Raymond Ho and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (December 7):
Question:
It has been reported that by the end of this year, the University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong will for the first time make early admission offers to students with International Baccalaureate ("IB") and General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level) ("GCE A-level") qualifications through the non-Joint University Programmes Admissions System ("non-JUPAS early admission schemes"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the purposes of the two universities in introducing the aforesaid non-JUPAS early admission schemes; apart from applicants with IB and GCE A-level qualifications, if the aforesaid universities will also admit students on the strength of other academic qualifications under such schemes; if they will, of the details;
(b) of the respective numbers and ratios of students who are taking the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination, IB programmes and GCE A-level examinations in the current academic year; and
(c) whether it knows the respective percentages of places for non-JUPAS intake of each of the eight local universities in their total number of places in the current academic year; the respective criteria adopted by various universities for determining the ratios of students admitted through JUPAS and non-JUPAS?
Reply:
President,
The Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS) is the main platform for students sitting for the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE) and the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) Examination to apply for admission to undergraduate programmes funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC). Applicants outside the scope of JUPAS (including non-local students, sub-degree students and persons holding other qualifications) have to apply to institutions direct for admission (commonly known as "non-JUPAS"). Applicants cannot submit concurrent applications via both channels.
(a) According to the information provided by the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the two universities will give two rounds of offers in the admission exercise for non-JUPAS candidates for the 2012/13 academic year. The first round of offer ("advance offer" for CUHK and "fast-track admission" for HKU) will be similar to the advance offer arrangement adopted by many overseas universities, especially those in the United States.
The "advance offer" / "fast-track admission" arrangements in the non-JUPAS admission exercise of CUHK/HKU are completely different from the Early Admission Scheme for the Secondary Six Students implemented since 2002/03. The Early Admission Scheme is a sub-system of JUPAS for admitting and enrolling outstanding students one year before their graduation from matriculation studies, while the "advance offer" / "fast-track admission" arrangement facilitate the advancement of the application process within the normal application cycle, so as to allow students to get themselves prepared and plan for applying to different undergraduate programmes, and to provide institutions with ample time to consider and assess the applications. Like all other applicants, students selected under the "advance offer"/ "fast-track admission" arrangements must satisfy all the admission requirements before joining the universities. They are not admitted a year earlier.
Eligible candidates should have completed six years of secondary education in any of the Hong Kong or overseas schools and meet the entry requirements of the respective universities. The arrangements are applicable to non-JUPAS applicants, including sub-degree students, non¡Vschool applicants holding previous HKALE results, students with other qualifications (e.g. General Certificate of Education (GCE), International Baccalaureate (IB), Scholastic Assessment Test, etc.).
(b) As at November 2011, there are around 31 700 school candidates for the 2012 HKALE. At present, we do not have the statistics regarding local students taking IB and GCE Advanced Level examination programmes.
(c) Overall speaking, the UGC-funded institutions do not have a pre-determined ratio for the JUPAS and non-JUPAS intakes. In fact, admission of the students is mainly done by individual faculties/departments. Students are selected based on individual merits in a number of aspects, including their academic attainment (e.g. results in public examinations and secondary schools), performance in interviews and auditions, non-academic achievements, interest and preferences in various academic programmes.
The number of students admitted through JUPAS and its ratio to the approved student number remain stable in recent years. The numbers of students admitted by the UGC-funded institutions through various channels, and their ratios to the approved student numbers are set out as follows:
2005/06 2010/11
Approved first-year- 14 500 14 580
first-degree places
Actual intake 15 041 16 054
(include over-enrolment) (103.7%) (110.1%)
Local students 14 012 14 195
(96.6%) (97.4%)
JUPAS 11 458 11 660
(79.0%) (80.0%)
Non-JUPAS (Sub-degree 1 517 1 502
or equivalent) (10.5%) (10.3%)
(Note 2)
Non-JUPAS (other 1 037 1 033
qualifications) (7.2%) (7.1%)
(Note 2,3)
Non-local students 1 029 1 859
(Non-JUPAS) (7.1%) (12.8%)
Notes¡G
1. Percentages in the above table refer to the ratios of actual student intakes in respective categories to the approved number of first-year-first-degree places.
2. Admission qualification refers to the highest relevant academic qualification possessed by a new intake on the basis of which his/her admission is decided, regardless of whether that qualification has been completed or not.
3. Including HKALE, IB, GCE Advance Level Examination etc. Non¡Vschool applicants holding HKALE qualification can apply for admission to UGC-funded programmes either through JUPAS and non-JUPAS routes, but not both.
There has been an increase in the number of students admitted through non-JUPAS mainly because of the increase in number of non-local students admitted by the institutions. The additional non-local students in recent years are mainly admitted by over-enrollment on top of the approved student number, and hence they would not constitute direct competition with local students. The actual intake of the institutions has increased correspondingly to around 16 100 in the 2010/11 academic year. Non-local students are required to pay a higher tuition fee.
The respective figures of the eight UGC-funded institutions are at Appendix.
Ends/Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Issued at HKT 13:01
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