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William Yiu

A body representing Hong Kong’s semi-private schools is considering promoting its institutions to Southeast Asian countries, with more than 60 per cent of members saying they plan to admit more non-local students under a new government trial scheme.
Sharing its enrolment strategy on Tuesday, the Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council said that the region was being eyed because of its proximity to the city.
Last month, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said in his annual policy address that the semi-private institutions would be allowed to apply for extra places for pupils with student visas to join on a self-financing basis.
Dion Chen, council chairman and the principal of Ying Wa College, said the representative body would consider visiting overseas markets to promote Hong Kong’s education in the short run and share information about schools under the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS).
DSS schools have greater flexibility in designing their curricula, student admission policies and the mediums of instruction. The institutions can also collect tuition fees in addition to receiving government subsidies.
“I think during the initial implementation stage of the policy, we will focus on students from Southeast Asia as it is comparatively nearer to Hong Kong and the syllabus is similar to Hong Kong’s,” he said.
Chen added that among the Southeast Asian markets, Malaysia and Indonesia had major potential for the city’s semi-private schools.
The new initiative would not affect local students’ chances of being admitted to such schools, as all additional places granted under the government scheme could only go towards non-locals, he said.
The scheme will not cover mainland Chinese pupils as they are not issued such student visas under local immigration policies.

Hong Kong has 78 DSS institutions, comprising 21 primary and 57 secondary schools, with nine of them having both primary and secondary classes.
Chen also shared a council survey, in which more than 60 per cent of participating operators said they were interested in applying for additional school places for non-local students.
The council chairman said he expected each interested school to apply for 20 to 30 extra places per grade under the scheme to help create synergy among students.
He noted that about 200 non-local students were enrolled at the city’s various semi-private schools as of the last academic year, with most of them studying non-local curricula.
“These students are not only from Southeast Asian countries, but there are also students from Europe, the US, Australia and even Africa,” he said.
Chen said that 12 DSS schools had their own dormitories and could accommodate up to 1,700 students, adding that the institutions were likely to be the first batch of schools to apply to the trial scheme because they had their own accommodation.
Samuel Cheng Kin-tak, principal of United Christian College (Kowloon East) and a council member, said bringing in non-local students was not just about headcounts but about boosting cultural diversity on campus.
“When international students come to Hong Kong to study, it could also internationalise our campus and widen our local students’ international horizons,” he said.
Chen said he had yet to hear further details about the pilot scheme.
The Education Bureau said it was currently in contact with DSS schools and listening to industry views.
“[We] will announce the application procedures and requirements in due course and encourage DSS schools that are interested to apply,” a spokeswoman said.
The council will hold an education fair on November 8. Fifty-four schools will take part, while more than 10,000 people are expected to attend the event.


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Education

Direct Subsidy Scheme schools announce enrolment strategy to capitalise on government scheme to offer extra spots for non-local pupils


Direct Subsidy Scheme schools announce enrolment strategy to capitalise on government scheme to offer extra spots for non-local pupils.


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Indonesia

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Dion Chen

Hong Kong’s semi-private schools eye Southeast Asia as source of extra students

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Direct Subsidy Scheme schools announce enrolment strategy to capitalise on government scheme to offer extra spots for non-local pupils

Direct Subsidy Scheme schools announce enrolment strategy to capitalise on government scheme to offer extra spots for non-local pupils