The government Wednesday unveiled a multi-billion-dollar blueprint to reform the SAR's secondary and undergraduate education. The education sector believes the changes will bring far-reaching benefits for future generations of students.

The reform proposal requires students to finish three years of junior and three years of senior secondary education with a revised curriculum before they proceed to four years of undergraduate studies at university.

The new structure, known as "3+3+4", if implemented, will replace the present system whereby students are required to finish five years of secondary education and two years of post-secondary studies before moving on to three years of university education.

Introducing the proposed reform to legislators and the press, Secretary for Education and Manpower Arthur Li said the new academic structure could be implemented as early as September 2008 with the first batch of senior secondary one students and September 2011 with students' entry to four-year undergraduate studies.

At the start, taxpayers will have to fork out a total of HK$6.7 billion to orient secondary schools and universities towards the changes. Of the sum, HK$3.3 billion will be used in training secondary school teachers and HK$3.4 billion in creating 14,500 student places and associated facilities in universities.

Li said that although start-up expenses were a one-off, HK$1.8 billion more would be required every year to maintain the fourth year of university studies of which HK$1.1 billion would be borne by taxpayers with the outstanding HK$700 million to be covered by tuition fees.

Tuition fees, as a result, are set to rise. Li said they would be proposing a school fee of HK$7,200 a year for senior secondary education, compared with the existing HK$5,050 for secondary four and five and HK$8,700 for secondary six and seven.

Meanwhile, the tuition fees for undergraduate studies will increase from the present level of HK$42,000 a year to HK$50,000 a year. This means the cost for gaining a university degree will rise almost 60 per cent from the present sum of HK$126,000 to HK$200,000.

Li admitted the proposed reform, especially the cost implication in it, would be subject to heated public debate during the three-month consultation period to January 19.

Appealing for community-wide support despite the high financial cost, Li emphasized the new academic structure would bring about long-term benefits to the younger generations and the community as a whole.

"The academic structure reform involves tremendous expenditure. We hope that a sound and feasible financing arrangement can be agreed on through community discussion," Li said.

"The new '3+3+4' academic structure will bring about impressive and long-term benefits to our younger generation and the whole community. It is a highly rewarding social investment. We need very much the support of parents and the community to endorse the principle of shared funding to ensure the smooth implementation of the reform," he said.

Li gave assurances that no students would be deprived of the chance to study because of financial hardship, saying eligible students could apply for government grants and others may also apply for low-interest loans. To ease loan borrowers' burden, the repayment period could be extended from five years to 10 years.

He said it was time for the community to start discussing whether it was right for parents who could afford more to bear more. The education chief said he would be most reluctant to see a good cause like the reform to be deferred again.

"We should not allow a good cause like this to draw on. Hong Kong should not stop," Li said.

The education and manpower chief said a new curriculum would be developed for senior secondary education to have the following features: four core subjects in Chinese, English, Mathematics and Liberal Studies; two or three subjects where students can choose; and learning experiences.

"The curriculum will help students strengthen their language and mathematical abilities and broaden their knowledge base. Their communication, analytical, critical thinking, independent learning and interpersonal skills will also be improved," he said.

Meanwhile, the current Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination taken at the end of secondary five and the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination sat at the end of secondary seven will be replaced by one public examination, the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE).

Because so much is at stake in the HKDSE, Li said the future diploma would be 70-80 per cent dependent on the public examination and 20-30 per cent on student performance at school.

Noting that teachers would have to get themselves adjusted to the new system, Li said: "I am fully confident that our secondary school and university staff will meet the needs of academic reform."

Educators hail reform, point to funding issues

Educators generally hailed the long-awaited proposal on education reform as a move towards a better tomorrow that builds students' capabilities and broadens their knowledge.

But they believed more resources are needed for successful implementation and pointed to a need to address the problem of tuition increases.

"The proposed academic structure would align Hong Kong with the mainstream education system adopted in the US and European countries," said Tso Kai-lok, a secondary school principal and vice-chairman of Education Convergence.

With Liberal Studies made a compulsory course in the senior secondary curriculum, "senior secondary students will broaden their knowledge scope... Their analytical and critical thinking abilities will be enhanced," Tso said.

But he pointed out that the government will train teachers and improve teaching resources before implementing the changes.

"Currently there are not many secondary schools teaching classes on the subject. I believe that the government can try some pilot programme so experienced teachers share know-how with the unexperienced," he said.

He also urged schools to consider the needs of low-capacity students since all secondary students will proceed to Secondary Six level under "3+3+4".

Raymond Chan, assistant professor of the Baptist University's Department of Education Studies, hailed the reform as a remedy to problems of the current education system.

The existing system is too examination-driven and there has been criticism of students being too narrow-minded. "Students' leadership and communication skills would be enhanced by taking part in project-learning. They have a motivation to learn as they can take optional subjects they were interested in," he said.

And by giving more emphasis to school-based assessment, students have less exam pressures, he said.

Chan Chi-kin, president of University of Hong Kong Students' Union, welcomed the move, which will extend university education from three to four years. Chan hoped that students would have more opportunities of exchange and internship programmes after the reform.

On the other hand, Chan is worried about the tuition increase, which is expected to rise from HK$42,000 to HK$50,000 per annum.

"It means that students would have to pay an extra HK$70,000 to get a university degree in a few years," said Chan.

"Students from lower-income families rely on higher education to move up in society. We hope the government will increase funding and subsidies for us," Chan said.

Elaine Chan, controller of the Student Financial Assistance Agency, pledged to study more ways to reduce students' financial burden, for example, extending the student loan repayment period from five to 10 years.

But she admitted that the loan interest may have to be increased as a result.

University of Hong Kong (HKU) Vice- Chancellor Tsui Lap-chee said that the financial burden should be shared by the government, universities and students.

Tsui said HKU has already established a taskforce to study the curriculum development and resources management matters in the reform.

A spokesperson of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) said the university believes additional resources will be needed to assure the quality of education.

"The university hopes that the government, education sector and other stakeholders will soon reach a consensus on future resource management, so that the reform can be implemented smoothly."

The University Grants Committee said it will meet with the tertiary institutions to ascertain their views and suggestions on how to take forward the initiatives of broadening the admission criteria as well as on funding issues.

Rosanna Wong, chairman of the Education Commission, said the reform would help young people reach full potential.

Wong said, "We have a consensus on the direction, but now we need to work together on the details."

Major political parties, including the Betterment of Hong Kong, the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party, also supported the government proposal, saying that it would enhance the overall quality of education.

(China Daily HK Edition October 21, 2004)