ENG-2001 — Page 213

EDUCATION

Established in 1971, Hong Kong Shue Yan College is a private post-secondary college and it became a degree-awarding institution in 2001. It offers various. programmes for 2 700 full-time students: Honours Degree programmes in Accounting, Chinese Language and Literature, and Journalism and Mass Communication; and Honours Diploma programmes in Business Administration, Counselling and Psychology, Economics, English Language and Literature, History, Sociology and Social Work. In addition, it runs joint programmes in collaboration with non-local universities.

Caritas Francis Hsu College was established in 1985 and upgraded to an approved post-secondary college in August 2001 after going through accreditation by the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation. In 2001-02, about 1 480 full-time students enrolled in its four Higher Diploma programmes in Accounting Studies, Company Secretaryship and Administration, Computing Studies and Translation and Interpretation.

Adult Education

Opportunities are available for adults to study in their spare time, either for personal development or to update knowledge and skills relevant to their work. The Education Department provided formal education courses at primary to senior secondary levels for 14 400 adult learners during the year. It also subvented a variety of adult education programmes operated by non-governmental organisations, offering a total of 26 760 places. Private schools also offer various courses such as languages, business and computer studies.

Student Finance

The Student Financial Assistance Agency administers several publicly funded schemes which ensure that no students are deprived of education for lack of financial means. It also administers privately funded scholarships awarded on the basis of academic merit. Improvements will be made to the various financial assistance schemes for kindergarten, primary and secondary students in the 2002-03 school year, including the introduction of a new income means-testing mechanism, with special attention to the needs of two/three member single-parent families.

Student Travel Subsidy

The Student Travel Subsidy Scheme provides a subsidy, on a means-tested basis, to full-time students aged 12 or above who are receiving primary or secondary education, or who have not yet completed their first degree-level studies and who live more than a 10-minute walk from their places of study. Needy students who pass the means test will receive a subsidy for home-school travel during term time. With effect from the 2000-01 school year, there are two levels of subsidy, namely full-rate and half-rate of the average unit fare on public transport between students' residence and the location of their schools. In the 2000-01 school year, $357.1 million was disbursed to 201 455 eligible students.

Needy primary students aged below 12 attending government or aided primary schools outside their residing Primary One Admission Nets and who live more than a 10-minute walk from their places of study are also provided travel subsidies for home-school travel on a means-tested basis. In the 2000-01 school year, $31 million was disbursed to 23 844 eligible students.

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