Higher Education Review

In view of the significant changes in the local and international landscape of higher education, the Government commissioned the University Grants Committee (UGC) to conduct a comprehensive review of Hong Kong's higher education in 2001. Following a four-month public consultation, the UGC submitted a final report entitled 'Higher Education in Hong Kong'. It was endorsed by the Government as the blueprint for the further development of higher education in Hong Kong.

    In a nutshell, the Report recommends role differentiation among institutions, the concentration of resources to reward performance and to encourage the growth of centres of excellence, improvements to the funding mechanism, and the strengthening of university governance.

    The Government's policy on tertiary education is to nurture excellence among local institutions and to promote quality in teaching and research and at the same time develop a higher education system that will offer students a wider choice of courses or subjects, and more opportunities. The vision is to develop Hong Kong into a regional centre of excellence in higher education.

Action Plan to Improve Language Standards

There has been growing concern within the community over language standards and the need for a more concerted approach to improve the language competencies of the population. In early 2001, the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) began a comprehensive review of language education both in schools and in the wider community, and developed an action plan by the end of 2002 to raise language standards in Hong Kong. The action plan focuses on two major issues — specifying the language competencies expected of students and working adults, and creating a more motivating language learning environment. The action plan will be released in early January 2003 for public consultation.

Post-secondary Opportunities

To upgrade Hong Kong's human capital to cope with the requirements of a knowledge-based economy, the Chief Executive announced in his 2000 Policy Address that 60 per cent of the 17–20 age group should have access to post-secondary education by the 2010–11 academic year. To provide the impetus, the Government offers interest-free start-up loans and land grants to post-secondary education providers, and new financial assistance schemes for students. The overall post-secondary participation rate for the 17–20 age group has increased from 32 per cent in 2000–01 to 42 per cent in 2002–03.

Continuing Education Fund

A $5 billion Continuing Education Fund was launched in June 2002 to encourage people between 18 and 60 years of age to pursue continuing education in four economic areas, namely financial services, tourism, logistics and China business, and in the three generic areas of language, design and interpersonal/intrapersonal skills for the workplace. Eligible applicants will be reimbursed 80 per cent of their course fees, subject to a maximum sum of $10,000, on successful completion of a reimbursable course or module(s) forming part of the course. Over 18 000 applications had been received by year-end.

Qualifications Framework

In 2002, the Government consulted the public on a proposal to establish a qualifications framework (QF) and the associated quality assurance mechanism. The QF, which covers qualifications in the mainstream academic, vocational and continuing education sectors, provides a structure to order and support qualifications. The hierarchy of qualifications is based on generic descriptors that take into account knowledge and intellectual skills; processes; application, autonomy and accountability; and communication, information technology and numeracy. The QF will provide clear information on progression pathways and articulation arrangements to promote lifelong learning.