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Following is a question by Ir Dr Hon Ho Chung-tai and a reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Professor Arthur K C Li, in the Legislative Council today (February 25):

Question:

Regarding the quotas of full-time overseas students set by local universities and the tuition fees of such students, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a) it knows if universities in the Mainland, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States of America and Australia have set quotas on the admission of full-time overseas students; if they have, how such quotas compare to those set by universities in Hong Kong other than the Open University of Hong Kong;

(b) the authorities have plans to increase the above quotas; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(c) the authorities have plans to increase the tuition fees payable by such students and have assessed the merits and demerits of increasing the tuition fees; if they have, of the details of the plan and the assessment results?

Reply :

Madam President,

(a) According to our understanding, universities on the Mainland and in other countries generally do not set quotas for the admission of full time non-local students. This is because the tuition fees that their non-local students pay are usually higher than those paid by their local students, or have to cover the full costs of the student places. This is different from the situation in Hong Kong. Non-local students in Hong Kong currently pay the same tuition fees as local students do. Therefore, we have to strike a balance between attracting more non-local students to Hong Kong, and limiting their impact on the learning opportunities of local students.

At present, the quota for non-local students at undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes of the University Grants Committee (UGC) - funded institutions is 4% of the publicly funded places. The quota for research postgraduate programmes has been removed since the 2003/04 academic year.

(b) The Administration constantly reviews the admission quota for non-local students. While we agree that institutions recruiting more non-local students will promote cultural exchange and bring educational benefits, we also have to be aware that significantly increasing non-local student places may affect the learning opportunities of our local students. Striking a balance between these two, the Administration accepted the UGC's recommendation to double the quota for non-local students at undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes with effect from the 2005/06 academic year (i.e. the current 4% of publicly funded places plus the same number of privately funded places).

(c) Our policy allows institutions to determine the tuition fee levels for non-local students. In this connection, the UGC's specific recommendation is that, as a general rule, institutions should charge non-local students recruited for non publicly funded places beginning from the 2005/06 cohort a tuition fee level which is at least sufficient to recover all additional direct costs for these places, and that the tuition fees should in no circumstances be lower than the indicative fee level applicable to local students. To recognize the differences in costs for programmes of different disciplines, institutions are free to charge different fees for different programmes. In order to avoid invidious comparison between the 4% non-local students within approved student number targets and those without, we will encourage institutions to charge non-local students studying the same discipline at the same institution (regardless of whether their student places are publicly funded or not) the same tuition fee, which is higher than that for local students. The Administration has accepted this recommendation.

The major advantages of the above recommendation are to minimize the impact on the learning opportunities of local students, and to avoid the dilution of public resources for higher education. In addition, as institutions are allowed to retain the extra tuition fee income, the recommendation will at the same time increase the resources of the institutions.

To ensure that our institutions remain attractive to non-local students, the UGC has emphasized to the institutions that the higher tuition fees for non-local students should not lead to fewer non-local students being able or willing to come to Hong Kong to study. The UGC has also asked the institutions to consider offering scholarships to eligible non-local students having regard to their academic merits.

Ends/Wednesday, February 25, 2004

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