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Following is a question by the Hon Bernard Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Professor Arthur K C Li, in the Legislative Council today (November 9):
Question :
Will the Government inform this Council of the average academic results in the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination attained by the students who were admitted by University Grants Committee-funded institutions in 2005 to read undergraduate programmes majoring in studies relating to Chinese Language or English Language, and the average academic results in the relevant language subjects in the Examination attained by the students of such programmes in the past three years?
Reply:
Madam President,
For students who applied through the Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS) and were later admitted to the University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded undergraduate programmes majoring in studies relating to Chinese and English languages in 2005, their average Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE) results are set out at Annex A. The average results in the relevant HKALE language subjects of students admitted to the same programmes in 2002, 2003 and 2004 are set out at Annex B.
University admission is not solely based on HKALE results, but on a number of factors. The considerations vary from institution to institution, or even from programme to programme. It is therefore inappropriate to compare the admission criteria of programmes using the information at the Annexes. Nor should the information be used to draw conclusions on the quality of students enrolled in the relevant programmes.
Explanatory Note for Annex:
1) The Annexes only include the HKALE results of students admitted through JUPAS. This is because for JUPAS Sub-systems, non-academic achievements are more important considerations. Annex B includes only UGC-funded programmes that are still offered in the 2005/06 academic year.
2) The average HKALE results shown at the Annexes are obtained by converting the HKALE grades into numerical scores based on the following scale –
Advanced Level Subjects:
A = 10, B = 8, C = 6, D = 4, E=2, other grades = 0
Advanced Supplementary Level Subjects:
A = 5, B = 4, C = 3, D = 2, E = 1, other grades = 0
3) Apart from the HKALE results in language subjects, the average results of the students concerned in other HKALE subjects are also presented. The latter is based on the best average score of each student, either in two Advanced Level (AL) subjects, or in one AL subject plus two Advanced Supplementary Level (AS) subjects other than "Use of English" and "Chinese Language and Culture". As only subjects with the highest scores are taken, they do not necessarily include those specified in the departmental entrance requirement.
4) For the University of Hong Kong, as students of the Bachelor of Arts programme normally declare their major after the first year of study, only the average admission grades to the Bachelor of Arts programme are shown at the Annexes.
5) The Annexes do not cover Hong Kong University of Science and Technology because the University does not offer any UGC-funded English and Chinese language undergraduate programmes.
Ends/Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Issued at HKT 14:55
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