[Archive] Reduction of medical students intake in the next triennium

Asked by : Hon LUI Ming-wah

Replied by : SEM

Question :

It has been reported that the University Grants Committee ("UGC") decided to reduce the intake of undergraduates in Medicine within the next triennium by 50: 30 for the University of Hong Kong ("HKU") and 20 for the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the criteria adopted by UGC in deciding on the reduction;
   
   
2. of the reasons for HKU having to bear a larger reduction; and
   
   
3. whether it has examined if the decision of UGC is unfair to HKU; if it has, of the results; if not, the reasons for that?
   
   

Reply:

Madam President,

1. The reduction of 50 medical undergraduate intake in the next triennium was a decision made by the Government on the basis of the following factors:
   
   
   1. the population growth and distribution of age in Hong Kong;
   2. the number of vacancies for doctors in both the public and private sectors;
   3. the impact of the development of health care system and technology on the demand for doctors;
   4. the trend of public demand for Chinese and Western medical practitioners; and
   5. the impact of manpower demand in other sectors on the allocation of tertiary education places.
   
   
2. As the Faculties of Medicine of both universities are comparable in terms of human resources and facilities, UGC decides to bring the intake of both faculties to the same level over the next three years. This is to be achieved by gradually adjusting their numbers of intake to 140 for each from the current level of 170 for HKU and 160 for CUHK.
   
   
3. The duties of UGC include, inter alia, the allocation of Government funding for tertiary education. Such decisions are made by UGC from a professional perspective, taking into consideration the long-term development of tertiary education as well as the overall utilization of resources. The Government does not intend to intervene in the operation of the UGC and therefore will not examine its decision on the allocation of medical undergraduate intake.