Caritas, VTC granted sites to build new campuses
The Caritas Institute of Higher Education and the Vocational Training Council have been granted sites to build campuses under a scheme to expand the sector.
The Education Bureau yesterday said the Caritas Institute of Higher Education had been granted a 7,500 square metre site in Tseung Kwan O town, near Tiu Keng Leng MTR station. A 10,750 square metre site at the junction of Wing Tai and Shing Tai roads in Chai Wan has been granted to the Vocational Training Council, the bureau said.
The council plans to establish the Technology and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong on the site.
The two non-profit-making institutions were among three applicants to offer locally accredited degrees on these sites. The three-month application period closed in February. The government did not release the name of the third applicant. An independent selection committee recommended the two schools after a detailed examination of their development proposals for both the site and education facilities, said the bureau.
To support the development of the self-financing higher education sector, the Land Grant Scheme was launched in 2002. It provides land at a nominal premium to self-financing non-profit-making post-secondary institutions for the construction of a campus or purpose-built premises.
It is also part of the government's initiative to diversify the higher education sector by providing school leavers more education opportunities and a wider choice.
The government aims to give more than a third of eligible high school leavers the opportunity to pursue degree-level education by the 2014-15 academic year. If sub-degree places are also counted, more than two-thirds of young people will have access to post-secondary education.
Apart from the land scheme, there are also start-up loans, quality enhancement grants and accreditation grants to support the self-financing post-secondary sector. A HK$2.5 billion self-financing post-secondary education fund was set up in November to offer scholarships to students and provide support to institutions.
