TNAG-1073-FCO40-1323-Policy-of-the-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-including-1981 — Page 327

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entering tertiary institutions, direct or otherwise: however, the recent

increase in numbers enrolling in schools and G.C.E. courses in Britain

suggested that pre-tertiary enrolment was becoming recognised as a

potentially more successful route to tertiary education than direct

entry from Hong Kong sixth forms, especially in fields such as medicine,

pharmacy and dentistry. It was considered that current trends would,

however, be affected by various overseas developments (actual or

proposed), such as the introduction of tertiary-level tuition fees for

overseas students in Australia and a very sharp increase in fees for

overseas students in Britain; a reluctance by Australia to accept overseas

secondary school students; a prohibition in several countries on employment

during overseas courses; increasing difficulty in Britain in obtaining

'home student' status; restrictions on intake numbers and the requirement

to leave the host country on completion of studies. The 1979 Working

Group noted that many of these restrictions could be (and were being)

circumvented to a degree but that the overall effect would be to increase

the pressure for admission to Hong Kong tertiary institutions.

6.9

The 1977 Working Party noted that the extent of demand for

tertiary courses was difficult to assess: most full-time courses in

all publicly-subvented tertiary institutions were oversubscribed, though

the extent of "multiple applications" was not known. The 1979 Working

Group observed that as the number of public-sector sixth-form places

continued to grow (in line with White Paper policy) the social pressure

for tertiary education could be expected to increase. Hence, even with

university places increasing at an annual rate of 3 per cent (resulting

in an increase in the proportion of the age group entering full-time

tertiary education), the number of Form VI leavers who did not obtain

full-time tertiary education of any kind would not decrease though of

this latter group not all would be qualified for tertiary education and

I