ENG-2005 — Page 200

162 | Education

Three skills centres run by the VTC prepare people with a disability for open employment or mainstream vocational education and technical training. Collectively, they offered 1 000 full-time places for the 2005-06 training year

Post-secondary Education

To upgrade Hong Kong's human capital to cope with the requirements of a knowledge-based economy, the Chief Executive announced in his 2000 Policy Address that 60 per cent of the 17 to 20 age group would have access to post- secondary education by the 2010-11 school year. As an incentive, the Government offers interest-free start-up loans, accreditation grants and land to providers of post- secondary education and new financial assistance for students.

At the start of 2005-06, around 270 full-time accredited self-financing programmes were offered by 20 post-secondary institutions, providing some 25 000 full-time intake places at sub-degree level or above. These are in addition to some 9 500 publicly funded intake places at sub-degree level offered by the City University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Hong Kong Institute of Education, the VTC and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

Higher Education

Hong Kong has 12 degree-awarding higher education institutions, eight of which are publicly-funded through the UGC. The other four are the publicly funded Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the self-financing Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Shue Yan College and Chu Hai College of Higher Education.

The UGC is appointed by the Chief Executive to advise on the development and funding of higher education and to administer public grants to the eight higher education institutions. It comprises non-local academics, local academics and local professionals and community leaders. Its secretariat is mainly staffed by civil servants.

The UGC also plays a major role in quality assurance and the promotion of international competitiveness. Its major initiatives include the Performance and Role- related Funding Scheme, which provides assurance that institutions are adhering to their roles and that they perform well in those roles, the Research Assessment Exercise and the Areas of Excellence scheme.

Each of the eight higher education institutions funded through the UGC is an autonomous statutory body with its own ordinance and governing body. They enjoy academic autonomy and a high degree of institutional autonomy, and are free to manage their own affairs within the parameters of the law. Seven of the eight are universities and the remaining one is a teacher education institution. They all have distinctive and complementary roles that reflect their varying origins, missions and the way they have responded to Hong Kong's complex and evolving needs. Following a comprehensive review of the higher education sector, the UGC is taking a more strategic approach by developing an interlocking yet differentiated system whereby the whole sector is viewed as one force both regionally and internationally, with each institution fulfilling a unique role based on its strengths.