TNAG-0658-FCO40-807-Policy-of-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-1977 — Page 129

C.S. 166

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XCC(76)51

2

Factors influencing a decision on. growth targets

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The Working Party has recognised, in its statement of objectives in the provision of higher education (paragraph 8) and in its summary of information relevant to a decision on future growth (para- graph 10), that there is no single yardstick by which the optimum rate of growth can be determined. The growth rate chosen should reflect a balance between several factors, each of which may suggest a lower or a higher figure if taken independently of the others.

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The Working Party has grouped these factors under four main heads. The first head (A in paragraph 10) deals with the anticipated demand from qualified school leavers for a place in higher education. Under this head, the Working Party lists four considerations:

(a) the growth of the 19 year old population, from

(b)

(c)

(d)

which most applicants for places in higher educa- tion are drawn, will have reached its peak by 1980 and is expected to decline by about 27% over the decade following the planning period (paragraph 11);

subsidised places in senior secondary forms should increase by nearly 48% between 1975-76 and 1979-80 (paragraph 12). If the ratio between Form VI places in the public and private sectors in 1976-77 and first year university places in 1977-78 were to be held constant, a total university population of about 11, 150 in 1980-81 would be required (paragraph 13);

courses in all three institutions are over-subscribed at present (paragraph 15); and

approximately 4, 000 Hong Kong students are known to be attending higher education institutions abroad; such opportunities may decline (paragraphs 16 and 17).

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When considering the relative demand for places between the two universities, it should be noted that the growth of secondary schools, the principal language of instruction of which in English, has been about four times greater in the period 1964-76 than the growth of secondary schools in which the principal language of instruction is Chinese. The English-language sector now provides more than four times the number of public sector places provided by the Chinese-language sector. In the 1974 White Faper on secondary education, the Government adopted the policy that individual school authorities should themselves decide whether

CONFIDENTIAL

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