Following is a question by the Hon Lau Kwok-fan and a reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, in the Legislative Council today (December 14):

Question:

     The places of undergraduate programmes funded by the University Grants Committee (funded programmes) have been in short supply for a number of years. Quite a number of secondary school leavers, who have met minimum requirements for university admission but have not been admitted to funded programmes, can only pursue local self-financing post-secondary programmes (self-financing programmes), which charge exorbitant tuition fees, or study abroad. Some students pursuing self-financing programmes who come from poor families have relayed to me that institutions operating self-financing programmes have to pass on various related expenses to students as they operate such programmes on a self-financing basis. As a result, those institutions raise their tuition fees each and every year, which have posed a heavy financial burden on students. Such students have also pointed out that the quality of self-financing programmes lacks assurance. Although the Committee on Self-financing Post-secondary Education promulgated the Code of Good Practices on Governance and Quality Assurance for Self-financing Post-secondary Education Sector in June last year for the purpose of enhancing the quality, transparency and sustainable development of the self-financing post-secondary education sector, the adoption of the Code by institutions is on a voluntary basis only. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the number of secondary school leavers in the 2015/16 school year who met the minimum requirements for university admission and, among them, the number of students who were admitted to funded programmes; the average yearly amount of subsidy received per person by those students currently receiving subsidies under the Tertiary Student Finance Scheme - Publicly-funded Programmes;

(2) of the number of secondary school leavers in the 2015/16 school year who met minimum requirements for university admission and were admitted to self-financing programmes; the average yearly amount of subsidy received per person by those students currently receiving subsidies under the Financial Assistance Scheme for Post-secondary Students; and

(3) whether it will consider increasing subsidies for self-financing programmes, so as to alleviate the financial burden on students; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; of the mechanism currently put in place to monitor the quality and tuition fee levels of self-financing programmes to guard against overcharging of tuition fees by the institutions concerned?

Reply:

President,

     It is the Government's policy to support the parallel development of the publicly-funded and self-financing post-secondary education sectors. The Government strives to provide young people in Hong Kong with quality and diversified study pathways with multiple entry and exit points. Through the development of the publicly-funded and self-financing sectors, about 46 per cent of our young people in the relevant cohort have access to degree-level education in the 2015/16 academic year. Including sub-degree places, about 70 per cent of our young people now have access to post-secondary education. As it is the Government's student finance policy to ensure that no student will be deprived of education because of a lack of means, various student financial assistance schemes have been put in place.
 
     The Government understands that the community expects post-secondary institutions to provide a quality nurture to our younger generation. Therefore, our policy oversight of the institutions focuses on enhancing transparency, quality assurance and good governance, and with due regard to the principles of reasonableness and proportionality.

     My reply to each part of the Hon Lau Kwok-fan's questions is as follows:

(1) In the 2015/16 academic year, 25 782 students met the minimum general entrance requirements in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSEE) for admission to first-year-first-degree (FYFD) programmes. Among them, 12 329 enrolled in University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded FYFD programmes via the Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS). Separately, 2 519 local students were admitted to the UGC-funded FYFD programmes via non-JUPAS route, mostly based on their local sub-degree qualifications or other qualifications.

     Under the Tertiary Student Finance Scheme - Publicly-funded Programmes (TSFS), students pursuing publicly-funded degree programmes may apply for means-tested grants to meet their tuition fees and academic expenses, as well as low-interest loans to cover their living expenses. In the 2015/16 academic year, a successful applicant pursuing a degree programme received a non-repayable grant of about $40,500 on average under the TSFS.

(2) In the 2015/16 academic year, among the 25 782 HKDSEE candidates who met the minimum general entrance requirements for admission to FYFD programmes, about 5 500 enrolled in full-time locally-accredited self-financing FYFD programmes.
 
     Students pursuing self-financing locally-accredited full-time degree programmes may apply for means-tested grants to meet their tuition fees and academic expenses as well as low-interest loans to cover their living expenses under the Financial Assistance Scheme for Post-secondary Students (FASP). In the 2015/16 academic year, a successful applicant pursuing a degree programme received a non-repayable grant of about $55,300 on average under the FASP.

(3) The maximum amount of grants to be provided under the FASP is adjusted annually in accordance with the Consumer Price Index (A). Statistics over the past few years showed that the annual increase in tuition fees for self-financing post-secondary programmes was either in line with or below inflation in most of the cases. Apart from applying for assistance under the FASP, students who pursue full-time locally accredited self-financing degree programmes and have passed the means test can also apply for the subsidy under the Student Travel Subsidy Scheme to meet their expenses incurred on home-school travels. In recent years, the Government has also introduced pilot schemes through the Community Care Fund to enhance the support for post-secondary students with financial needs, including the hostel subsidy, an additional academic expenses grant for eligible students under the FASP, and an additional academic expenses grant for post-secondary students with special educational needs.

     In addition, with the introduction of the Study Subsidy Scheme for Designated Professions/ Sectors (SSSDP) in 2014, the Government subsidises three cohorts of students, about 1 000 per cohort, admitted from the 2015/16 to 2017/18 academic years to pursue designated full-time locally-accredited self-financing undergraduate programmes in selected disciplines, with a view to nurturing talent in support of specific industries with keen demand for human resources. SSSDP is administered in a two-tier arrangement in which a unit subsidy of up to $40,000 per academic year will be provided to programmes that are not laboratory-based while a higher subsidy of up to $70,000 will be provided to more costly programmes that are laboratory-based. Eligible students can still apply for financial assistance under the FASP in respect of the actual amount of tuition fees payable after deducting the subsidy. Any annual increase in tuition fees of SSSDP-subsidised programmes beyond inflation is normally not allowed save for exceptional cases where full justifications must be provided to Education Bureau (EDB) for approval. When vetting such cases, the EDB will give due consideration to various factors including whether the increase would be used to enhance the teaching and learning quality of the programme concerned, whether the use of tuition fees is proper, and whether the revised fees level, after deducting the subsidy, would still be affordable to students. The Government is reviewing the effectiveness of SSSDP with a view to determining its way forward beyond the 2018/19 academic year.
 
     The Government attaches great importance to the quality assurance of post-secondary programmes. The Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ) is a statutory body responsible for the quality assurance of self-financing post-secondary programmes except those offered by institutions with self-accrediting status. In a nutshell, all relevant local self-financing post-secondary programmes must have undergone stringent academic accreditation by the HKCAAVQ before they can be included in the Information Portal for Accredited Post-secondary Programmes and entered into the Qualifications Register. Besides, the Quality Assurance Council under the UGC will commence the first round of external quality assurance audits on the sub-degree operations (including sub-degree programmes offered on a self-financing basis) of the UGC-funded universities by the end of this year.

     Thank you, President.

Ends/Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Issued at HKT 14:50

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