Advertisement
Hong Kong universities should look beyond the DSE if they want to be world leaders and cultivate innovators
Anson Au says the world’s best universities don’t admit students based on their grades alone. So why does Hong Kong persist with the fallacy?
3-MIN READ3-MIN
Pupils are currently grinding through Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exams and will be plunged into existential uncertainty until their results are released. On this judgment day, all prospects of future success will hinge upon being accepted into university, which depends primarily on the grades pupils receive. Although the Joint University Programmes Admissions System (Jupas) has implemented more “holistic” evaluation criteria, such as “other experiences and achievements”, and a personal essay akin to a statement of purpose, every pupil knows the open secret: only a small fraction of those applying to publicly funded universities will get accepted – and DSE results are key.
What’s more, the decisions on what to include in the DSE are random and even unfair, pulling in ambiguous pieces from different fields with no clear rationale or assurance that pupils could answer the questions, especially in cases where even the author admits to being unable to do so
None of the top universities in the world conduct admissions based on such criteria. Hong Kong should drop the DSE. Having worked at Harvard and the London School of Economics, I’m familiar with their undergraduate and postgraduate admission committees, so this is not an argument for “snowflakes.”
Select Voice
Select Speed
1x
AI-generated voice