(April 27, 2010 Hong Kong) Releasing its “Developing Hong Kong as a Regional Hub for Quality Education” study report on April 27, the Hong Kong Ideas Centre (HKIC) called for enhancing Hong Kong’s education through increasing the number of undergraduate places and implementing multiple funding models. HKIC also considers the setup of privately-run higher institutions, together with a high-ranked official taskforce to induce more quality talents from the mainland and abroad, would help build Hong Kong a hub for economic, social and cultural vitalities. 

The report indicates that despite the good potentials of aspiring to be an education hub, Hong Kong is lagging behind other comparable economies on higher education. The ratio of our university places to total population is far much lower than those of our counterparts, falling short of moving towards a knowledge-based economy. At present, 33% of our school age population enjoys access to higher education, well below the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED)’s average of 53% and Singapore’s figure of 45%.

Mr Yeung Pak-sing, a member of HKIC’s Board of Directors and Education Study Group, said, “Manpower training is vital to Hong Kong’s long-term competitiveness. The Government must set clear targets to expand higher education by increasing substantially the number of undergraduate places.”

The report anticipates a pressing need of a sharp increase of higher education places to accommodate the huge number of eligible students in 2012, the overlapping year for the new ‘3-3-4’ academic structure and the old academic system. Given that 30,000 eligible students every year have to consider local self-financed degree or associate degree programmes, it is estimated that the number of insufficient undergraduate places for eligible students from senior secondary school will double to 60,000 in 2012, if institutions concerned have not expanded to accommodate these students.

‘HKIC’s recommendations on increasing the number of undergraduate places would alleviate the problem,’ said Ringo Li, another Study Group member.

The report advocates that UGC-funded institutions should adopt multiple funding models, and explore the feasibility of opening programmes for subsidized, partially subsidized, and self-financed students. ‘Our Study stresses the importance of both quantity and quality enhancements in higher education. It is hoped by increasing the number of undergraduate places, the overall structure, curriculum, student sources, quality control and other aspects will be improved,’ Mr Yeung explains.

The report also envisages the huge benefits brought by elevating Hong Kong to be an education hub. Growth of various educational services, ranging from basic education, continuing education, professional training, academic accreditation and registered examinations, will be stimulated, and the competitive edge of Hong Kong’s manpower enhanced.

The 6 major recommendations put forth by HKIC’s Study Group are:

1.     By 2015, accredited undergraduate places should be increased to 25,000 from the existing level of 14,500 places. The addition of 10,500 undergraduate places includes 3,500 government-subsidized places, thus raising its total to 18,000; and 7,000 self-funded places.

Local and non-local students will be split in a portion of 4 to 1 as 20,000 and 5,000 will be distributed respectively. For local students, 16,000 places will be government-subsidized and 4,000 self-funded. As for non-locals, 2,000 undergraduate places will be government-subsidized and 3,000 will need to pay their own school fees.

2.      Under the ‘3-3-4′ new academic structure, the addition of 3,500 publicly-funded places for each cohort of four years university education is expected to incur HK$8 billion investment in fixed assets, including the expansion of teaching facilities. The report recommends exploring the feasibility of extending the campuses of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and the Lingnan University, due to these universities’ available space.

3.      The report calls for a revamp of current subsidy system of higher education, in particular proposing the option of importing prevalent overseas multiple-funding model in one single higher institution. The report suggests the Government should bear only one third of the HK$2.4 billion recurrent expenditure on the proposed expansion of university places. Other stakeholders like the tertiary institutions, parents and the society, the report proposes, should contribute towards the balance of the funding requirements. However, the Government should allocate additional resources to enable every undergraduate to participate in at least one exchange programme in their course of study.

4.     The report urges strongly that the government should proactively support the setup of privately-run higher institutions. Priorities should be given to existing international schools, privately-run schools and institutions under the Vocational Training Council in a bid to fully utilise existing school premises and academic facilities. A lump sum of about HK$10 billion should be earmarked to finance the construction cost of university buildings and campus in term of a 15 to 20 year-long borrowing.   

5.      The report proposes an extra funding of HK$0.8 billion for the construction of two hostel projects. One project is to build 6,800 hostel places at the former Kai Tak Airport redevelopment site for students of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the City University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Baptist University; whereas another is to redevelop existing hostels for students and teaching staff at the University of Hong Kong to provide 1,300 hostel places. The two hostel projects will mount to build a total of 80,000 sq. m building floor area and 55,000 sq. m building site area.      

6.    The report suggests establishing a high-ranked official taskforce to coordinate, formulate and implement among various bureau and departments in different policy areas such as education, finance, land supply, employment, immigration, accreditation and overseas promotion.    

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Research Report (Chinese version only)

About the Hong Kong Ideas Centre

Established in December 2008 by a group of devotees, Hong Kong Ideas Centre (HKIC) is an independent, apolitical non-profit organization whose motto is – “Think and Build for the Future”. To help harness collective wisdom, the Centre’s objectives include: (1) increasing Hong Kong’s competitiveness, (2) promoting sustainable economic and social development, and (3) improving Hong Kong community’s quality of life.

Since its establishment, the HKIC has conducted a series of studies on various issues and made recommendations that promote Hong Kong’s economic and social well being. These include:

• A Second Round of Recommendations to Promote Hong Kong as a RMB Offshore Centre
• 10 Recommendations to Promote Development of Chinese Medicine in Hong Kong
• 10 Recommendations to Promote a Green Economy
• 11 Recommendations to Turn Hong Kong into a Creative City
• 12 Measures to Promote Hong Kong into a RMB Settlement Centre

 HKIC’s Education Study Group Members: P.S. Yeung, Ringo Li, Lawrence Fung

 For press enquiries, please contact: Yvonne Kwok   2114 1488 / 9322 4639