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Following is a question by the Hon Ip Kin-yuen and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, in the Legislative Council today (February 11):
Question:
The 2015 Policy Address has pointed out that some tertiary institutions funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC-funded institutions) have accumulated large surpluses through the self-financing programmes offered by their community colleges. The Government will therefore ask the UGC-funded institutions to critically review their financial position and consider different ways to use their surpluses to benefit their students, e.g., lowering tuition fees and offering scholarships or bursaries for underprivileged students. Regarding the full-time and part-time self-financing post-secondary programmes (self-financing programmes) offered by the departments (such as community colleges) of UGC-funded and non-publicly funded (non-funded) tertiary institutions, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows, in respect of the various types of self-financing programmes offered by the departments of each UGC-funded institution in each of the past five academic years, the respective numbers of such programmes, as well as (i) the student intakes, (ii) the tuition fee income, (iii) the number of full-time and part-time teaching and non-teaching staff members employed, and (iv) payroll expenses for such staff members, of such programmes respectively;
(2) whether it knows the amounts of surpluses/deficits as a result of offering self-financing programmes by the departments of each UGC-funded institution in each of the past five academic years, and whether the amounts of such surpluses/deficits were shared/borne between the departments and their parent institutions; if so, how the institutions use the surpluses; whether the departments are required to pay fees to their parent institutions in respect of their self-financing programmes; if so, of the details of such fees;
(3) how the authorities will ensure that the UGC-funded institutions will use their surpluses, derived from offering self-financing programmes, to benefit their students, as well as monitor the use of such surpluses by the departments of these institutions;
(4) whether it knows, in respect of various types of self-financing programmes offered by the departments of each non-funded institution in each of the past five academic years, the respective numbers of such programmes, as well as (i) the student intakes, (ii) the tuition fee income, (iii) the number of full-time and part-time teaching and non-teaching staff members employed, and (iv) payroll expenses for such staff members, of such programmes respectively; and
(5) whether it knows the amounts of surpluses/deficits as a result of offering self-financing programmes by the departments of each non-funded institution in each of the past five academic years?
Reply:
President,
The self-financing sector forms an essential part of Hong Kong's post-secondary education in that it plays an important role in broadening the opportunities and choices for further studies, and in providing quality, diversified and flexible pathways with multiple entry and exit points for school leavers. The sector also helps diversify our higher education sector and is conducive to Hong Kong's further development as a regional education hub. In addition, the self-financing sector is responsive to changing social needs, thereby playing a pivotal role in upgrading the quality of human resources in Hong Kong by offering continuing and professional education as well as life-long learning opportunities for our workforce and the community at large.
(1)(i) and (4)(i) The number of full-time locally-accredited self-financing sub-degree and undergraduate degree programmes (including top-up degree programmes) offered by each post-secondary institution and the student intakes in the past five academic years are set out at Annex 1.
(1)(ii) to (iv), (2) and (3) Self-financing post-secondary institutions in Hong Kong enjoy a high degree of institutional autonomy in academic development and administration. When setting the tuition fee levels for self-financing programmes, most institutions plan on the basis of a balanced budget and adopt a prudent approach, taking into account a basket of factors including planned enrolment, similar programmes offered in the community, and affordability of the target group. Post-secondary institutions are non-profit-making. Any surplus in a year will be kept in their reserve and ploughed back in support of teaching and learning activities, curriculum development, scholarships for students, research activities, and the maintenance, replacement and improvement of teaching and learning facilities for the benefits of students.
The eight institutions funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC) are autonomous statutory bodies, each established under its own ordinance and with institutional autonomy in conducting self-financing activities and setting up jointly-run or self-administered establishments. Information on tuition fee incomes from self-financing programmes offered by the UGC-funded institutions proper, their community colleges and other self-financing education arms in the past five academic years is at Annex 2, the number of academic and non-academic staff engaged and the payroll costs are at Annex 3, and information on surplus and deficit is at Annex 4.
While upholding the spirit of institutional autonomy, UGC always expects institutions to remain committed to transparency and accountability in their operations to ensure that funding is put to appropriate uses that serve the best interests of the community and students. Moreover, as publicly-funded entities, institutions should ensure that non-UGC-funded activities do not detract from the core work of the institutions, have distinct separation of resources from the UGC-funded programmes/activities and are financially viable and sustainable.
The UGC Notes on Procedures provide that UGC-funded institutions should keep separate financial accounts for their publicly-funded and self-financing programmes. Moreover, there should be no cross-subsidisation of UGC resources to non-UGC-funded activities. To avoid hidden subsidy to non-UGC-funded activities, institutions should, in principle, levy overhead charges on such activities, including projects/programmes conducted by the self-financing subsidiaries or associates of the institutions. According to the data provided by the institutions, UGC-funded institutions should recover academic and teaching staff costs and payments for the use of campus facilities, central administrative services and academic support services by charging their academic departments/community colleges/other self-financing education arms.
Surpluses derived from non-UGC-funded activities are deployed according to individual institutions' internal policies and guidelines. It is learned that such surpluses are mainly used in the daily operation of self-financing programmes as well as the affairs and development projects of the institutions. Reserve from self-financing programmes may also be redirected to UGC-funded programmes for procuring additional campus facilities, classroom facilities and equipment, etc. In general, the institutions proper do not provide any subsidy to self-financing units if the latter incur deficit.
As announced by the Chief Executive in the 2015 Policy Address, we will continue to request the institutions to critically review their financial position and consider possible means to make use of their surpluses to benefit their students as far as possible.
(4)(ii) to (iv) and (5) Regarding other non-UGC-funded institutions proper, their community colleges and other self-financing education arms, information on the number of academic and non-academic staff, both full-time and part-time, engaged in the past five academic years is at Annex 5. Data on tuition fee incomes, payroll costs of academic and non-academic staff as well as surpluses/deficits arising from the self-financing programmes offered are not available since most of the institutions regard such information as commercially sensitive in view of the self-financing nature in the operation of the programmes concerned.
To drive for further enhancement of governance and quality assurance of the self-financing sector, the Committee on Self-financing Post-secondary Education (CSPE) has earlier engaged an external consultant to conduct a Consultancy Study on Local and International Good Practices in the Governance and Quality Assurance of the Self-financing Post-secondary Education Sector, with a view to developing a code of good practices for further advancing the development of the sector. The report of the Consultancy Study was published in August 2014. The full report and the executive summary have been uploaded onto the Concourse website (www.cspe.edu.hk) for access by the public. CSPE held a sharing session with institutions in November 2014 for exchange of views on the findings of the report and its recommendations on the formulation of good practices on governance and quality assurance for the self-financing post-secondary sector. CSPE is consulting relevant stakeholders on the draft code of good practices. The consultation period will end in mid-March. The code is expected to be finalised and ready for release in the first half of 2015 for the self-financing institutions to adopt on a voluntary basis.
Ends/Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Issued at HKT 15:46
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