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Education

Non-local Higher and Professional Education (Regulation) Ordinance

This ordinance regulates non-local courses of higher and professional education conducted in Hong Kong through a system of registration to ensure the standards of the courses and qualifications are comparable to those in their home countries. It protects Hong Kong consumers by guarding against the marketing of non-local courses which do not fulfil the registration criteria. As at end-September, 1,142 non-local courses were registered or exempted from registration under the ordinance.

More Funding Resources

Quality Education Fund

Up to end-August, the Quality Education Fund had approved about $4.43 billion for 9,567 projects to raise the quality of school education and promote quality school education.

Life Planning Education

A recurrent Career and Life Planning Grant of about $580,000 is disbursed to public-sector and DSS schools providing senior secondary education to implement life planning education to better prepare students for the transition from school to post-secondary education, including VPET, or the workplace and to make the best of opportunities ahead. From the 2016-17 school year, schools may opt for regular teaching posts instead of the grant to further consolidate their experiences with more stable teaching manpower.

The EDB encourages close collaboration between schools and various sectors to arrange opportunities for secondary students to explore and acquire first-hand experience about different trades and careers. Under the Business-School Partnership Programme, more than 270 businesses worked with the bureau to organise activities that drew some 277,000 students in 2016-17.

Support for Needy Students

In the 2017-18 school year, 902 schools and 169 NGOs received subsidies under School-based After-school Learning and Support Programmes for organising activities to help about 190,000 eligible needy students improve their learning effectiveness, broaden their learning experiences outside the classroom and raise their understanding of the community and sense of belonging.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Life-wide Learning Fund, established by the bureau and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, allocated $82 million to 935 participating schools in 2016-17. This helped about 210,000 students in need from Primary 1 to Secondary 6 to take part in activities organised or recognised by schools that fostered whole-person development.

Student Finance Office

To ensure no student is denied access to education because of a lack of means, the Student Finance Office of the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency provides means- tested and non-means-tested financial assistance at various study levels. The office also administers a number of scholarship schemes.

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