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Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Kwok-che and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (April 21):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council of the latest development of Hong Kong's existing subsidy policy on social work sub-degree and undergraduate degree programmes; and the respective numbers of subsidised places in social work sub-degree and undergraduate degree programmes provided by each University Grants Committee-funded institution in each of the past three years, as well as the respective estimated numbers of such places to be provided in each of the next five years?
Reply:
President,
It is the current policy of the Administration to provide the University Grants Committee (UGC) with advice on the manpower requirement of certain disciplines, including social work, for institutions' reference in drawing up their academic development proposals. The UGC will consider these proposals and associated funding requirement on a triennial basis.
The approved number of publicly-funded sub-degree and undergraduate degree intake places for social work at UGC-funded institutions from the 2007/08 to 2011/12 academic years is set out at Annex. Apart from publicly-funded places, institutions also offer locally-accredited social work programmes on a self-financing basis. The planned number of self-financing full-time sub-degree and undergraduate degree intake places from the 2007/08 to 2009/10 academic years is also set out at Annex. As the academic development exercise for the 2012/13–2014/15 triennium has yet to begin, the number of publicly-funded places for the years after 2011/12 is not yet available.
Ends/Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:00
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