ENG-2008 — Page 197

Education 145

Post-secondary Education

During the 2008-09 academic year, some 350 full-time accredited self-financing programmes and more than 50 top-up degree programmes were offered by 21 post- secondary institutions, providing about 26 600, 3 200 and 2 000 full-time places for students taking sub-degree, degree and top-up degree courses respectively. These were in addition to some 8 300 publicly-funded places for sub-degree level courses 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 funded by the public through the University Grants Committee (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 University and Chu Hai College of Higher Education.

The UGC is a non-statutory advisory body appointed by the Chief Executive to advise the Government on the development and funding of higher education and to administer public grants to the eight higher education institutions. It also plays a major role in quality assurance and in promoting research. The committee comprises local and non-local academics, professionals and community leaders.

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 a high degree of academic and institutional autonomy, and are free to manage their own affairs within the parameters of the law.

The eight UGC-funded institutions have distinctive and complementary roles that reflect their different origins, missions and the way they have responded to Hong Kong's complex and evolving needs. The UGC is committed to taking a more strategic approach by developing an interlocking yet individually different higher education system, with each institution fulfilling a unique role based on its strengths.

The administration has launched four rounds of Matching Grant Scheme, each costing $1 billion, since 2003 to broaden the funding sources of the eight UGC- funded institutions and to strengthen their fund-raising capabilities. The fourth round commenced in January 2008, and for the first time, two self-financed universities were also participating with the eight UGC-funded institutions.

At present, 14 500 first-year-first-degree places are available in institutions funded by the UGC, or about 18 per cent of people aged between 17 and 20 in Hong Kong. For the 2008-09 academic year, the UGC-funded institutions provided a total of 1927 senior year undergraduate places for graduates of sub-degree programmes and students with other qualifications. A further 46 per cent in the same age group enjoyed access to post-secondary education through self-financing sub-degree and degree programmes and overseas university programmes. The overall post-secondary participation rate for the 17 to 20 age group increased from 33 per