Six more uni options for locals up north

Eunice Lam

Six more mainland higher education institutions will be available for Hong Kong students to choose from without having to sit for an extra examination.

In an announcement, the ministry of education said that brings the number of participating to 138.

The 138 institutions, spread across 21 provinces and municipalities and one autonomous region, will accept applications from candidates sitting for the Diploma of Secondary Education next year.

The new institutions are the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), which opened last year, Zhejiang University of Technology and Shaoxing, Guangzhou's South China Agricultural, Chengdu's Southwest Jiaotong and Xi'an's Northwestern Polytechnical universities.

The Education Bureau welcomed the ministry's announcement.

"Mainland institutions participating in the admission scheme admit Hong Kong students based on HKDSE examination results, hence exempting them from taking the joint entrance examination for mainland institutions," a bureau spokesman said.

"As in previous years, there is the school principal nomination scheme under the admission scheme and each secondary school can nominate up to eight students."

Students have to get a total score of eight or above in the three core subjects - Chinese, English and mathematics - with none below level 2, they also need to obtain "attained" through the citizenship and social development subject, which was formerly liberal studies subject.

Secondary six students can apply online between March 1 and 31 next year for the September intake, review and confirm application verification results before April 10, and those who have passed verification must pay a HK$460 fee by April 30.

As for cases in which students provided supplementary information as per the system's request, they can log on and review verification results before April 23.

Institutions will announce admission results in late July and arrange for supplementary enrolment based on the situation.

For people wanting to find out their options, there is the Mainland Higher Education Expo jointly organized by the ministry and the bureau on December 2 and 3 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.

Hong Kong students enrolled in undergraduate programs at designated mainland institutions can apply for a means-tested or a non-means-tested subsidy.

The subsidy level of the scheme has been increased from this academic year [started in September] onward, with a view to enhancing the support for Hong Kong students pursuing further studies in the mainland, the bureau spokesman said.