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Education

Under the UGC's aegis are the Research Grants Council, which advises on the research needs of the academic sector and the distribution of research funding, and the Quality Assurance Council, which helps assure the quality of all programmes of the UGC-funded universities.

UGC members are appointed by the Chief Executive in their personal capacity and all are prominent in their fields. They comprise accomplished academics and higher education administrators from outside Hong Kong, and eminent community leaders and academics of high standing locally. The UGC Secretariat, a government department, provides administrative support.

Education in Hong Kong

The government provides 12 years' free primary and secondary education to all children. through public-sector schools, which form the majority in the school system. These consist of government schools operated directly by the government and aided schools that are generally run by religious or charitable organisations, fully subvented by the government and managed by their own incorporated management committees or school management committees. To meet the different needs of students, there are other types of schools, namely Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) schools, which can charge school fees, receive government subvention based on enrolment and enjoy greater flexibility, and self-financed private schools.

Hong Kong's 53 international schools, including 15 operated by the English Schools Foundation, provide about 43,600 places as at September, catering mainly to the demand of non-local families living in Hong Kong for work and investment. Generally operated on a self-financing basis, these schools offer different non-local curricula, including those of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and the United States, as well as the International Baccalaureate programme.

Both publicly funded and self-financing post-secondary programmes are available at sub- degree, undergraduate and higher levels. The publicly funded programmes are provided by the eight UGC-funded universities, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) and the VTC. Diverse self-financing post-secondary programmes are available at post-secondary institutions with a choice of study pathways and multiple entry and exit points.

Kindergarten Education

Kindergarten education is not compulsory and all kindergartens are privately run. In the 2017- 18 school year, the government started implementing a new kindergarten education policy to give eligible local non-profit-making kindergartens a direct subsidy which is, in principle, sufficient for the provision of quality half-day service for all eligible children aged between three and six. The policy objectives are to provide quality and highly affordable kindergarten education, and to enhance students' access to different services that suit their needs. In tandem, the quality of kindergarten education is enhanced, including by raising the requirement of teacher-pupil ratio from 1:15 to 1:11, revising the curriculum guide, promoting teachers' professional development, strengthening support to students with diverse needs, enhancing the quality assurance framework and promoting parent education. Out of about 1,030

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