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Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Man-kwong and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Education, Mr Kenneth Chen, in the Legislative Council today (March 28):
Question:
Regarding the utilisation of education resources by local and non-local students, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the respective numbers of local and non-local students of each University Grant Committee (UGC)-institution in each of the past three academic years, broken down by academic level and funding mode (i.e. UGC-funded and self-financing modes) of programmes; the places of origin of the non-local students (set out in detail the mainland cities, Asian cities or other regions, etc. they are from);
(b) whether it knows, in each of the past three academic years, the respective numbers of hostel places provided by each UGC-funded institution for local and non-local students, as well as the respective numbers of local and non-local students who had applied for and were allocated hostel places, broken down by academic level and funding mode of programmes;
(c) regarding the policy that all undergraduate students should be given an opportunity to stay in student hostels for at least one year of their studies, i.e. one-year hostel accommodation during the three-/four-year period of their studies, whether it knows, in the past three academic years as well as in the coming academic year, which funded institutions could not or may not be able to follow this policy to allocate hostel places to such students, as well as the number of those students not being offered at least one-year hostel accommodation during the three-/four-year period of their studies and the percentage of them in the total number of students of the institutions concerned; the solutions such institutions have put in place to solve the problem of not being able to allocate hostel places according to that policy;
(d) whether it knows the average number of years of student hostel accommodation which can be arranged for each non-local student by each UGC-funded institution at present, broken down by academic level and funding mode of programmes;
(e) whether it knows the amounts of funding for scholarships allocated from public funds to various UGC-funded institutions in each of the past three academic years, the respective numbers of local and non-local students who had applied for and were awarded this type of scholarships as well as the amounts they received, and the respective percentages of these two types of students who were awarded such scholarships, broken down by academic level and funding mode of programmes; what monitoring mechanism the Government and UGC have put in place to ensure the impartiality of all UGC-funded institutions in assessing and allocating various scholarships; what mechanism each UGC-funded institution has put in place to handle grievances and complaints concerning the assessment and allocation of scholarship;
(f) whether it knows the policies or mechanism each UGC-funded institution has put in place to ensure that in approving and allocating study places, hostel accommodation and scholarships, the resources provided can first meet the needs of local students;
(g) given that it was proposed in the 2006-2007 Policy Address that an inter-bureau steering committee chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration (the Steering Committee) would examine strategic issues relating to promoting Hong Kong as a regional education hub, and one of the issues under its purview was to consider whether the Government should provide hostel facilities or subsidise the provision of such facilities in the light of the lack of hostel facilities which had become the major barrier encountered by institutions in admitting non-local students, of the number of meetings the Steering Committee has held so far since its establishment; and whether it has offer any specific solution for addressing the demand for hostel places from non-local students; and
(h) whether the Government had, prior to promoting Hong Kong as an education hub or the education services, correspondingly increased the resources and formulated policies, so as to ensure that inadequate resources would not lead to conflict between local and non-local students; if it had, what relevant measures it had put in place; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(a) The numbers of local and non-local students attending publicly-funded and self-financing programmes in University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded institutions in the past three academic years by institution, level of study and place of origin are set out at Annex 1.
(b) According to the information provided by UGC-funded institutions, most hostel places (including publicly-funded, privately-funded and temporary) are provided to students of UGC-funded programmes, with only a small number allocated to students of self-financing programmes. For example, in the 2011/12 academic year, among the 26 676 students allocated hostel places, 25 541 students are pursuing UGC-funded programmes while the remaining 1 135 students are pursuing self-financing programmes. The numbers of hostel places available for allocation by each institution, and the numbers of local and non-local students who applied for and were allocated hostel places by level of study in the 2009/10 to 2011/12 academic years are set out at Annex 2.
(c), (d), (e) and (f)
Student enrolment
Under the existing policy, UGC-funded institutions may admit non-local students to their sub-degree, degree and taught postgraduate programmes up to a level not exceeding 20 per cent of the approved UGC-funded student number by level. This 20 per cent comprises up to 4 per cent within the UGC funded number and up to 16 per cent outside the UGC-funded number. Since non-local students are primarily admitted by over-enrolment on top of the approved student number targets, they will not compete directly with local students. As long as institutions comply with the above policy, they may decide on the actual enrolment of non-local students, taking into account their own development needs and resources.
Student hostel places
Under the existing policy, the provision of publicly-funded hostel places for UGC-funded institutions is calculated according to the following criteria:
(i) all undergraduate students should be given the opportunity to stay in student hostels for at least one year of their courses; and
(ii) all research postgraduate students, non-local students as well as undergraduate students whose daily travelling time exceeds four hours should be provided with student hostel places.
The above criteria are applicable to all UGC-funded institutions except Lingnan University and the Hong Kong Institute of Education (Note).
As the allocation of student hostel places is a matter within institutional autonomy, the UGC has not issued any guidelines to the institutions in this regard. Each institution has devised and promulgated its own set of criteria and procedures for allocating publicly-funded and privately-funded hostel places for students' reference. Institutions have also put in place mechanisms for handling students' appeal cases. In general, institutions will take into account a host of factors when allocating hostel places, including, as far as practicable, giving all undergraduate students the opportunity to stay in student hostels for at least one year of their courses, and giving priority to local students with accommodation needs as well as non-local students.
According to the institutions, they do not have statistics on the number of local undergraduate students who stay in hostels for at least one year of their courses since not all local undergraduate students apply for hostel places, and those who are interested in hostel life may not apply for hostel places every academic year during their studies. Nor have the institutions compiled figures on the average number of years that non-local students stay in hostels.
Scholarships
Currently, publicly-funded scholarships are awarded to students pursuing UGC-funded programmes under the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) and the HKSAR Government Scholarship Fund (GSF). The HKPFS, established and administered by the Research Grants Council (RGC), aims at attracting the best and brightest postgraduate students in Hong Kong and other parts of the world to pursue research-based PhD programmes in UGC-funded institutions. The RGC considers all applications on an equal basis, without setting any quotas for local and overseas applicants. The awardees, be they local or overseas students, will receive a monthly stipend of $20,000 and a conference and research related travel allowance of $10,000 per year for a period of three years. Thus, each PhD student awarded the fellowship will receive $750,000 in total.
The selection exercise of the HKPFS is centrally conducted by the RGC. The RGC will appoint a local expert and an overseas expert to assess initially each applicant nominated by the institutions, and the final decision will be made by a selection panel consisting of at least ten overseas experts. All experts participating in the exercise are required to declare their interest. To ensure impartiality in the selection process, local experts will not be arranged to assess applications from their respective institutions; nor will they be informed of the institutions that the applicants are attending. Applicants who are dissatisfied with the results may approach the RGC for a review.
Since the establishment of the HKPFS, three rounds of applications have been processed. Annex 3 sets out the numbers of local and non-local applicants and awardees in each round.
The objective of the GSF is to encourage outstanding local students to stay in Hong Kong to pursue their studies and attract meritorious non-local students to study in Hong Kong. Each academic year, the Government allocates funds from the GSF to ten institutions (including the eight UGC-funded institutions, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the Vocational Training Council) offering full-time publicly-funded programmes at sub-degree level and at degree level or above for the award of scholarships. For students at degree level or above, the annual scholarship is $40,000 for local students and $80,000 for non-local students. For sub-degree students, the annual scholarship is in the range from $20,000 to $30,000 for both local and non-local students.
Individual institutions have set up their own system of administering the scholarships under the GSF. All institutions receiving allocations from the GSF are required to submit an annual report to the Government to certify that the scholarship scheme is conducted in a fair, open and impartial manner. Applicants who are dissatisfied with the results may approach the relevant administrative departments/scholarship committees of their respective institutions for enquiries or complaints.
The numbers of local and non-local applicants and awardees as well as the total amounts of funds allocated under the GSF by institution in the past three years are set out at Annex 4.
Separately, the Government set up a $2.5 billion Self-financing Post-secondary Education Fund (SPEF) in November 2011 to offer scholarships to students attending locally-accredited self-financing sub-degree or degree programmes and to support institutions in quality enhancement and quality assurance. A Self-financing Post-secondary Scholarship Scheme (SPSS) has been launched under the SPEF to award scholarships to outstanding students. Rigorous selection and monitoring mechanisms are put in place for the SPSS, and the Steering Committee of the SPEF determines the criteria for various awards and the distribution of scholarships. Participating institutions nominate eligible students according to the relevant criteria for assessment by a sub-committee under the Steering Committee. Since not many overseas students are enrolled in locally-accredited self-financing sub-degree or degree programmes, we expect that the awardees will mainly be local students.
(g) The high-level steering committee chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration has formulated policy direction on the development Hong Kong into a regional education hub, including the provision of boarding facilities for non-local students of UGC-funded and self-financing institutions.
Planning student hostels is an on-going task undertaken by the Administration and UGC-funded institutions. The Administration has been encouraging the institutions to make the best use of their existing stock of student hostels and actively explore all possible options. Apart from greenfield sites, institutions will also consider making use of existing vacant or developed sites to meet new demand. The Administration and UGC will provide assistance to institutions through established channels as far as possible. In addition, the Administration has been exploring with UGC-funded institutions the development of off-campus joint hostels for shared use by the institutions in order to address the shortfall of hostel places.
As regards the self-financing sector, the Government has always supported institutions in their applications for sites for the construction of campuses and ancillary facilities (including hostels) by providing land through the Land Grant Scheme for such purposes. With the Government's support, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Chu Hai College of Higher Education and Hang Seng Management College have been granted land for the construction of campuses and hostels. In addition to providing land, the Government has also proposed to extend the ambit of the Start-up Loan Schem (SLS) to support the development of student hostels for the self-financing tertiary education sector and to increase the commitment of the SLS by $2 billion.
(h) To develop Hong Kong's education services, we have in recent years implemented or planned to implement an array of measures to internationalise and diversify the higher education sector. Regarding internationalisation, we implemented in 2008 a basket of measures, including doubling the non-local student quota for publicly-funded programmes to 20 per cent, establishing the $1 billion HKSAR Government Scholarship Fund to provide government scholarships to outstanding local and non-local students, allowing non-local students to take up summer jobs and on-campus part-time jobs and enabling non-local students to stay in Hong Kong without limitations for 12 months after graduation. In 2011, the Administration injected $250 million into the Government Scholarship Fund to extend to students of publicly-funded sub-degree programmes. We propose to inject another $1 billion into the Fund in 2012-13 so as to establish more scholarships or award schemes for outstanding students, including both local and non-local students.
The increase in non-local student quota for publicly-funded post-secondary programmes to 20 per cent will not result in additional recurrent costs for the Government, as the recurrent expenditure incurred in providing the additional student places will be met by institutions from tuition fees received and other income sources. As a general rule, UGC-funded institutions should charge non-local students tuition fees at a level which is at least sufficient to recover all additional direct costs for operating non-publicly funded places.
Note:
The Government provides Lingnan University with hostel places for 50 per cent of its full-time degree student population having regard to its remote location and its aspirations to develop itself into a relatively small, fully residential liberal arts institution. The Hong Kong Institute of Education is provided with hostel places for 50 per cent of its full-time degree student population projected at the time of its establishment having regard to the potential merits of hostel life in enhancing pre-service teacher education.
Ends/Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:45
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