TNAG-2816-FCO40-4062-Future-of-Hong-Kong-International-Rights-and-Obligations-(IR-1993 — Page 88

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15-year-old population. Places for a further 10 per cent of the age group are to be provided on full-time craft courses in technical institutes. One-third of the students on subsidised senior secondary courses will be able to proceed to a subsidised sixth form place. To meet these targets, new secondary schools are built and places are

are bought from private schools.

To supplement the supply of government and aided secondary school places, the

the government buys Secondary 1 to 3 places from those private schools which

which have a satisfactory standard, and plans to buy Secondary 4 and 5 places from

from September 1990. In October 1989, the government announced that, following advice in the Education Commission ́s Report No. 3, a direct subsidy scheme (DSS) would be introduced in 1991, under which any secondary school meeting specified standards could receive a public subsidy for each student enrolled, but would be free to set its own curriculum, entrance requirements and fee levels, with minimum government control. It was also announced that the bought place scheme would come

end in the year 2000, and that schools in the scheme would be helped before then to raise their standards to those required of a DSS school.

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In October 1989, the report of a working group on sixth form education was released. The working group was set up to advise the government on the implementation of the new policy on the sixth form which was announced in 1988. Major changes were recommended to take effect in 1992 : the abolition of the Higher Level Examination, the introduction of Advanced Level subjects in the

the medium of Chinese, the adoption of a uniform two-year sixth form course in all types of secondary school and the introduction of new courses leading to an Advanced Supplementary

Examination.

Higher Education

There are at present six government-financed institutions of higher education :the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Hong Kong Polytechnic, the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Baptist College. The University of Hong Kong has nine faculties offering a wide range of graduate and post-graduate studies. The Chinese University of Hong Kong comprises four constituent Colleges. It has five faculties, offering a wide range of undergraduate courses in both the full-time and part-time modes. In addition, postgraduate programmes are offered by the Graduate School and the School of Education. The Hong Kong University of Science

of Science and Technology emphasizes on science, technology, management and

and business studies. The university will begin to admit students in 1991-92. The universities and polytechnics offer a wide range of degree and non-degree courses. There are also two approved post-secondary colleges, i.e. Lingnan College and Shue Yan College. While Lingnan College receives some financial assistance from the government, Shue Yan College is financially independent.

Special Education

Special education continued

continued to develop in line with the objectives the White Paper on Rehabilitation published in 1977 and the subsequent annual reviews of the Rehabilitation Programme Plan. At the end of June 1990,

June 1990, 8 840 handicapped children were being educated in special schools run by voluntary organisations under government subvention. These schools include two for the blind children, four for