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Education

and the $3 billion investment income will support the self-financing degree sector to enhance its academic and research development.

To attract high quality non-local students to study in Hong Kong and to retain them after graduation, the Government has doubled the non-local student quotas of the publicly-funded programmes to 20 per cent, allowed non-local students to take on summer jobs and on- campus part-time jobs, and launched the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (IANG) which enables non-local students to stay in Hong Kong without limitations for 12 months after graduation to seek employment locally. These measures have seen a substantial increase in the number of non-local students studying in Hong Kong, with about 21,000 non- local students enrolling in UGC-funded programmes and locally-accredited self-financing post- secondary programmes in the 2011-12 academic year. About 22,000 non-local students have been approved to stay in or return to Hong Kong after graduation since the implementation of the IANG.

The Government believes that by attracting these students, Hong Kong will enlarge its talent pool and improve the quality of its population, and in turn support various sectors of the economy and increase the city's economic competitiveness. The Government has been working together with higher education institutions to step up exchange and promotion efforts overseas to encourage more students to choose Hong Kong as a preferred place for education.

International School Development

As of September 2012, there were 49 international schools, including 15 schools (one of which is a special school) operated by the English Schools Foundation, providing around 38,600 places. These schools offer different non-local curricula, including those of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Singapore, the USA and others such as the International Baccalaureate programme. Four greenfield sites and four vacant school premises have been allocated for international school development since 2007 and in 2012 the Education Bureau (EDB) launched an exercise to allocate another four vacant school. These measures are expected to make around 5,000 places available in the next few years.

School-based gifted development programmes have been advocated and supported by the EDB through piloting programmes, teacher training and production of resources and further development programmes have been made available through the efforts of non-governmental organisations, tertiary institutes and the business sector.

Broadening Students' Horizons

In the 2011-12 academic year, the Government launched the five-year Pilot Mainland Experience Scheme for Post-Secondary Students. In the same academic year, the Government allocated about $25.6 million to post-secondary institutions under the scheme in the form of matching grants to benefit over 8,000 students. The scheme aims to promote better understanding of the prevailing social, cultural and economic developments in the Mainland by subsidising the participation of post-secondary students at sub-degree and undergraduate levels in learning programmes or internships in the Mainland.

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