[Archive] Mainland students studying in local tertiary institutions

LEGCO QUESTION NO. 7(WRITTEN REPLY)

Date of Meeting: 16 May 2001

Asked by : Dr Hon YEUNG Sum

Replied by : SEM

Question :

Regarding matters relating to people from the Mainland studying in local tertiary institutions, will the Government inform this Council of:

the number of Mainland students studying in local tertiary institutions in each of the past three academic years, together with a breakdown by the courses in which they enrolled;
the number and percentage of these students who received subsidies from public funds in tuition fees, academic expenses and living costs, and the average amount of subsidy granted to each of them in each year; and
the numbers of Mainland students who applied to stay in Hong Kong to pursue further studies or take up employment respectively upon completion of their courses, and the respective numbers of such students whose applications were approved in the past three years?

Reply:

Madam President,

a.	A breakdown of the number¹ of full-time equivalent Mainland students studying in the University Grants Committee(UGC)-funded institutions in each of the past three years by level of studies and major academic programme category is at Annex. ¹ The figures shown at Annex are the total enrolment, rather than fresh intakes, of Mainland students each year. The relevant numbers include new arrivals from Mainland with length of residence shorter than three years.

b.	According to the existing policy, both local and non-local students (including Mainland students) of the UGC-funded institutions pay uniform tuition fees which are equivalent to about 18% of the costs. Apart from this, the Government does not provide other forms of financial assistance to non-local students. At present, all the scholarships for Mainland students are sponsored by private or non-governmental organizations.

c.	Non-local students (including Mainland students) are normally granted visas for one year. In order to continue their studies in Hong Kong, they have to apply to the Immigration Department each year for extension of stay. The Immigration Department does not keep separate statistics on the number of non-local students applying to stay in Hong Kong to pursue further studies after graduation. The total enrolment of Mainland students in postgraduate programmes as shown at Annex has included those Mainland students staying in Hong Kong to pursue further studies after graduation. The existing channel for Mainland students of local tertiary institutions to seek employment in Hong Kong is the "Admission of Talents Scheme" introduced in 1999. As at the end of April 2001, a total of 6 applications submitted by Mainland students of local tertiary institutions were approved under this scheme.

Annex

Academic Programme Category	1998/1999				1999/2000				2000/2001
Academic Programme Category	Undergraduate Programme	Taught Postgraduate Programme	Research Postgraduate Programme	*Total*	Undergraduate Programme	Taught Postgraduate Programme	Research Postgraduate Programme	*Total*	Undergraduate Programme	Taught Postgraduate Programme	Research Postgraduate Programme	*Total*
Engineering and Technology	3	1	281	285	29	2	301	332	42	3	365	410
Physical and Applied Sciences	8	0	234	242	24	2	285	311	54	0	364	418
Computer Science and Information Technology	9	0	91	100	31	0	151	182	58	1	198	257
Business and Management Studies	13	9	76	98	54	15	96	165	110	26	119	255
Social Sciences	6	2	61	69	21	2	77	100	33	2	90	125
Medicine	0	0	49	49	1	0	57	58	1	0	105	106
Humanities	0	0	37	37	1	0	50	51	4	0	65	69
Architecture and Town Planning	1	0	10	11	7	3	19	29	8	8	40	56
Education	0	0	16	16	2	0	20	22	4	1	33	38
Language and Related Studies	0	0	15	15	2	0	20	22	5	0	22	27
Law	0	0	6	6	1	4	9	14	2	31	11	44
Arts, Design and Performing Arts	1	0	1	2	4	0	1	5	7	11	7	25
Studies Allied to Medicine and Health	2	0	9	11	0	0	8	8	0	1	11	12
Mass Communication and Documentation	0	0	7	7	0	0	7	7	0	0	12	12
Dentistry	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	15	16
Total number of course/programmes	43	12	893	948	178	28	101	1,307	329	84	1,455	1,868