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LCQ18: Sub-degree programmes
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     Following is a question by Dr Hon Kenneth Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, in the Legislative Council today (December 16):

Question:

     It has been reported that some self-financing post-secondary institutions (institutions) will cease to operate some or even all of their sub-degree programmes in the 2016-2017 academic year, while some institutions will offer afresh those sub-degree programmes which have ceased to operate. On the other hand, some institutions intend to raise the tuition fees of their sub-degree programmes. Regarding the number of places and tuition fees of sub-degree programmes, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) whether it knows the names of those sub-degree programmes (i) which were offered/are planned to be offered, and (ii) which ceased operation /are planned to cease operation in respect of each institution in each of the academic years of 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017, as well as the number of places of each of such programmes, with a breakdown by name of institution;

(b) whether it knows the tuition fees of the sub-degree programmes offered by various institutions in each of the past two academic years and this academic year and their year-on-year adjustment rates, with a breakdown by name of institution and name of sub-degree programme;

(c) given that the number of secondary school leavers will show a downward trend in the coming few years, whether the authorities will, in vetting and approving the applications made by institutions for offering sub-degree programmes and adjusting tuition fees, consider the possible impacts of the decline in student population on the number of places and tuition fees of those programmes; if they will, whether the authorities will include such considerations in the vetting and approval criteria; if not, of the reasons for that; and

(d) whether it has studied and assessed the specific impact of the reduction in sub-degree programmes by institutions on the supply of manpower resources in Hong Kong; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     The Government has all along been supporting the parallel development of the publicly-funded and self-financing post-secondary education sectors. With the development of both sectors, over 46 per cent of students in the relevant age cohort had access to degree-level education in the 2014/15 academic year. If sub-degree places were also taken into account, nearly 70 per cent of students in the relevant age cohort had access to post-secondary education. My reply to the various parts of Dr Hon Kenneth Chan's question is as follows:

(a) Self-financing post-secondary institutions are financially independent and have autonomy in the provision of sub-degree programmes. They may decide on their own whether to provide new programmes or discontinue existing ones, taking into account factors such as market needs and student enrolment, etc.

     Based on the information provided by self-financing institutions, the names of new and discontinued full-time locally-accredited self-financing sub-degree programmes from the 2014/15 to 2016/17 academic years, and the places involved, are tabulated at Annex A.

(b) Based on the information provided by the relevant institutions, the tuition fees and the levels of adjustment of the full-time locally accredited self-financing sub-degree programmes offered by the institutions from the 2013/14 to 2015/16 academic years are set out at Annex B. In the 2015/16 academic year, the tuition fees of most self-financing sub-degree programmes remain unchanged or increase by no more than 5 per cent, i.e. on par with the inflation rate.

(c) and (d) Self-financing post-secondary institutions have autonomy in the provision of sub-degree programmes and are not required to seek the approval of the Education Bureau (EDB) for offering new programmes or adjusting their tuition fees. In anticipation of a significant decline in the number of secondary school leavers in the coming years, the EDB has cast repeated reminders to the institutions that they should take into account Hong Kong's manpower requirements in planning the programme arrangements.

Ends/Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Issued at HKT 16:36

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