ENG-2003 — Page 203

EDUCATION

Secretary for Education and Manpower, it advises the Permanent Secretary on matters relating to professional conduct in education. It also draws up operational criteria defining the conduct expected of an educator and advises, where necessary, on cases of dispute or alleged professional misconduct.

Student Finance

To ensure that no students are deprived of education for lack of financial means, the Student Financial Assistance Agency (SFAA) provides financial assistance to needy students. Subject to a means test, the assistance available takes various forms such as fee remissions, grants and/or low-interest loans for pre-primary to tertiary education. The agency also administers non-means tested schemes of assistance and privately funded scholarships awarded on the basis of academic merit.

Means-tested Financial Assistance

Kindergarten pupils receive assistance in paying tuition fees up to the weighted average of the fees charged by non-profit-making kindergartens or the actual fee, whichever is the less. In the 2002-03 school year, 62 609 pupils were granted fee remission totalling $512.1 million.

Assistance for needy primary and secondary school students takes the form of grants for the purchase of textbooks, subsidies for home-school travel and remission of tuition fees for those studying at Secondary 4 to 7 in public sector schools. In the 2002-03 school year, $505.2 million was provided to 386 019 students to purchase essential textbooks. A further $336.6 million was disbursed for travel subsidies to 208 313 students. In addition, 97 115 Secondary 4 to 7 students had their tuition fees waived, either fully or by one half. For students taking the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination, 12 277 had their examination fees paid on their behalf at a cost of $12.7 million.

At the post-secondary and tertiary level, grants, low-interest loans and travel subsidies are made available to needy, full-time students pursuing eligible courses at UGC-funded institutions, the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education of the VTC, the Prince Philip Dental Hospital and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. In the 2002-03 academic year, $880.1 million in grants and $525.1 million in loans were provided to 35 694 students of these institutions. For eligible persons pursuing accredited, self-financing post-secondary education programmes leading to a sub-degree qualification, the means-tested assistance is in the form of a grant or a loan to cover tuition fees. In the 2002-03 academic year, $51.4 million in grants and $50.9 million in loans were provided to 3 547 such students. In addition, 441 full-time students of the Hong Kong Shue Yan College were provided $3.1 million in grants and $7.1 million in loans. Travel subsidies totalling $102.2 million were also provided to 35 768 students of the above institutions.

Non-means Tested Financial Assistance

Financial assistance for meeting tuition fee payments and living expenses, as appropriate, may also take the form of non-means tested loans. These loans are interest-bearing on the basis of no-gain no-loss to the Government. Access to these loans is open to any person pursuing eligible full-time or part-time publicly funded or self-financing local award-bearing programmes as well as professional or continuing education courses provided in Hong Kong by registered schools, non-local universities

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