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LCQ4: Operation of self-financing programmes

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    Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Man-kwong and a reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Professor Arthur K C Li, in the Legislative Council today (May 25):

Question:

    Will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the respective numbers of places provided annually between 2000 and 2008 in the self-financing programmes offered by University Grants Committee-funded ("UGC-funded") institutions or their affiliated schools, private organisations, or jointly by these two types of institutions, and the percentages of such places in all those provided in the self-financing programmes offered by all local institutions each year;

(b) among the land and loans granted by the authorities over the past five years for the above programmes, whether there were cases of the land and loans granted being given up or of failure to offer programmes as planned; if so, of the details of such cases and the ways to deal with these cases by the authorities; and

(c) whether the authorities have assessed if there are difficulties in enrolment and operation of self-financing programmes run by the above institutions; if there are difficulties, of the details of such difficulties and whether they affect students in terms of continuity of the programmes; and whether the authorities will consider assisting those institutions that have financial difficulties?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) According to the information provided to us by individual institutions, the number of full-time accredited self-financing post-secondary student places at intake level, offered by University Grants Committee-funded ("UGC-funded") institutions or their affiliated schools, other private organisations and joint bodies operated by UGC-funded institutions and private organisations between the 2000/01 and 2007/08 academic years, and the percentages of these places in the total provision, are listed at Annex.  

(b) To assist non-profit-making organisations in providing full-time accredited self-financing programmes, the Government introduced schemes to offer interest-free start-up loans and land at nominal premium in August 2001 and December 2002 respectively.

    To date, 19 applications have been approved under the interest-free start-up loan scheme in 11 rounds of loan application exercises.  Among all the applicants, there was only one education provider which did not complete the borrowing procedures after we accepted its loan application, so it can be said that no education provider has given up any loan agreement.   Two rounds of land grant application exercises have been conducted, and five sites allocated.  No education provider has given up the allocated sites.  The relevant institutions also offered the programmes that they planned to provide.

(c) Since 2000, the number of self-financing post-secondary student places has been increasing steadily, indicating that there is a growing demand for this type of study programme, and that education providers are positively responding to such need.

    Self-financing programmes enjoy great flexibility in student recruitment and school operation.  We encourage education providers to develop its niches, and offer different types of competitive, quality-assured programmes in accordance with its education ideals and market demand.  

    The Government appreciates that education providers may require some assistance, at the initial stage of operation, to launch their study programmes successfully.  We have therefore made available to them a series of support measures, including earmarking $5 billion for interest-free start-up loans, granting land at nominal premium for campus development to suit the needs of institutions with different operating scales, and allocating $30 million for subsiding academic accreditation exercises.  We also provide grants and loans to students, to ensure that no one will be deprived of further education opportunities because of the lack of means.

    Apart from giving support in terms of money and land, we have , through various means, including large-scale exhibitions, seminars,  webpages and careers guidance handbooks for secondary school graduates, publicized details of self-financing programmes, so that students, parents, teachers and the general public will have full access to such information, and can choose the right programmes to suit their individual needs.

    We believe the above measures provide an enabling environment for education providers to develop and sustain their self-financing operations.

    The Education and Manpower Bureau works closely with education providers and listens to their views.  Should individual institutions encounter difficulties in their operation, we will assist them and their students in accordance with our exiting policies.  We will also review our policy initiatives from time to time, to ensure their effectiveness.  Nevertheless, we do not consider it appropriate to use public funds, on top of the existing support measures, for assisting individual private organizations, to ensure that they reach their student recruitment targets, or to subside their operating expenses.

Ends/Wednesday, May 25, 2005

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