************************************************************
A spokesman for the Education Bureau announced today (October 16) that the Government would introduce some technical refinements to existing measures in support of Hong Kong's development as a regional education hub.
"The Education Commission's Working Group on the Development of Education Services in Hong Kong (ECWG) submitted its report to the Government in 2011 on their recommendations on how to enhance Hong Kong's position as a regional education hub. Having considered the recommendations of the ECWG and the latest developments of our post-secondary education sector, we will introduce some technical refinements to some of our existing policies with a view to nurturing talent for Hong Kong so as to boost Hong Kong's competitiveness," the spokesman said.
"The refinements include extending student exchange from degree and above programmes to sub-degree programmes, so that local sub-degree students can also widen their international exposure. We will also allow non-local sub-degree students to take up mandatory, study/curriculum-related internship in Hong Kong as it has increasingly becomes a core requirement for the completion of sub-degree programmes. On the immigration front, we will align the permitted period of stay of non-local students with the normal duration of their study programmes," he added.
Other refinements include fine-tuning the formula for calculating the quota on admission of non-local students to study full-time locally accredited self-financing sub-degree and undergraduate programmes, while the policy on admission of non-local students to publicly-funded post-secondary programmes will remain unchanged. The Land Grant Scheme (LGS) will also be extended to non-profit-making institutions offering part-time locally-accredited post-secondary programmes.
"The refinements will be conducive to further strengthening Hong Kong's status as a regional education hub as well as benefiting local students. For example, extending student exchange to sub-degree programmes will broaden the global exposure of local sub-degree students and enhance their ability in pursuing further studies or work in a cross-cultural environment," the spokesman said.
"Furthermore, the extension of the LGS to cover part-time programmes will help attract high quality overseas institutions to offer different types of programmes, such as part-time MBAs and so on, in Hong Kong, which can add diversity to our post-secondary education sector," he added.
Ends/Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Issued at HKT 18:38
NNNN