The Government welcomed the passage of the Post Secondary Colleges (Amendment) Bill 2025 by the Legislative Council today (June 25), which aims to enhance the regulatory and quality assurance mechanisms of self-financing post-secondary institutions, with a view to facilitating the healthy and sustainable development of the self-financing post-secondary education sector.

     The Bill amends the Post Secondary Colleges Ordinance (Cap. 320). Its three key features are: (i) reforming the regulatory regime for the self-financing post-secondary education sector to improve governance, ensuring the quality, transparency and accountability of self-financing institutions; (ii) removing barriers suitably, including rationalising the arrangements for self-financing institutions to award degrees, to enhance efficiency and effectiveness; and (iii) forging a unified regulatory framework to promote coherence in quality assurance, governance, positioning and overall co-ordination.

     The Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, said, "Self-financing post-secondary institutions form an integral part of the post-secondary education sector in Hong Kong. The Government has long supported the parallel development of the self-financing and publicly funded post-secondary education sectors. The passage of the Bill signifies an important milestone for the development of the self-financing sector. We envisage that the enhanced regulatory framework can further support the capacity expansion and quality enhancement of the self-financing sector, with a view to harnessing its advantages in terms of flexibility and diversity to cultivate talent for the country and Hong Kong, and make more proactive contributions towards Hong Kong's development into an international post-secondary education hub and building China into a leading country in education."

     The Post Secondary Colleges (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 will be gazetted on July 4. Save for clauses relating to the delegation of authority to approve the award of degrees from the Chief Executive in Council to the Secretary for Education, which will come into operation on August 1, 2025, the commencement date of the other major provisions will be August 1, 2026. For relevant institutions that are not currently registered under Cap. 320, there will be a transitional period of around three years, until July 31, 2028, to complete the registration procedures. 

     The Education Bureau, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications, will continue to maintain close liaison with self-financing institutions to ensure the smooth implementation of the enhanced regulatory framework and relevant transitional arrangements.

Ends/Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Issued at HKT 15:55

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