22
Date:
Time:
25.11.86
2.15 5 pm
Reporter:
PMS
1
2
3
MR HO:
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Audit's report. Yes.
May I start with asking a few questions
from the Secretary for Education and Manpower. The first one is whether, now I am referring to paragraph 22 of the Director of Audit's report for this particular item, whether the Secretary for Education and Manpower would agree that the Government is in the same, if not worse, predicament today, 1986 now, as it acknowledged it was in 13 years ago, 1973, because it lost sight of the target laid down in 1973, that tuition fees should equal at least 12% of the recurrent expenditure.
SEM:
It rather depends on how you look at it.
The actual level of fees now is something like it was at the time 15 you mention but looked at from another point of view, fees continued to decline after the date you mention for several years. At the present we are in fact - we have an agreed programme of fee increases so the trend now is upwards as opposed to downwards which seems to me a much more satisfactory position. We have in fact agreed with Executive Council proposals for fees to be increased gradually to something like their historical levels and subject to consultation
with the heads of the institutions that will take effect. So in the
sense that we are going in the right direction I think the position is much more optimistic now than it was 13 years ago.
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
1
23 +
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
It
27
28
29
Yes.
30
31
32
33
We have proposals agreed by Executive Council on the basis of which we will consult the five institutions.
34
35
36
Has that consultation process started or
MR HO:
Mr Chairman, perhaps I would follow up. seems to me that there is a proposal recently submitted, is it?
24
25
26
27
28
29
CHAIRMAN:
30
31
MR HO:
To remedy this situation.
32
33
SEM:
34
35
36
CHAIRMAN: