The Secretary revealed that the Government has also accepted the UGC's advice that the number of non-local students permitted in the UGC-funded institutions will be increased.
In addition to the 2% non-local students now permitted beyond the undergraduate and taught postgraduate target numbers, a further 2% of non-local students paying standard fees will be permitted.
The number of non-local research postgraduate places will also be increased from 20% to 33% within the student target.
The institutions must ensure that non-local students admitted are at least on a par with, and preferably better than, local students.
"We have decided to raise the limits within which non-local students can occupy subsidised tertiary places in Hong Kong because their presence is considered to be of benefit to our local students and will help to promote Hong Kong as a regional centre," Mr Wong said.
Explaining why the Government had not followed the UGC's advice on the increase in taught postgraduate students and possible public funding of continuing professional education, Mr Wong pointed out that the number of taught postgraduate students should be contained "as tertiary education enters a period of consolidation and as the present projection of postgraduates supply of all types for the labour market indicate a surplus by the end of the century.'
"The institutions could consider whether some of the more popular postgraduate courses should be delivered as continuing and professional education, which has always been, and should continued to be, self-financing and market-driven," he said.
Mr Wong said that the Government's recommendations have set the planning parameters within which the UGC-funded institutions should develop their detailed costed proposals.
"If the institutions and the UGC put up valid justification for changing the policies, these can be further considered by Government in the context of the institutions' detailed costed proposals," he added.
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