Mainland figures fall forces OpenU rethink
Open University is looking to expand its academic programme to stem the haemorrhage of mainland students from the distance learning institute.
OpenU Academic vice-president Danny Wong Sek-nam said a 'slowdown' in the intake of mainland students had forced a rethink on the positioning of OpenU in the mainland education market.
'Academic institutions all over the world are trying to get a slice of the mainland market,' said Professor Wong. 'We are facing increased competition from overseas universities and private agencies.
'It is very hard to compete, particularly with private agencies that have fewer restrictions and less scrutiny of their academic programmes. Many have linked up with mainland universities, creating some confusion among students.
'We need to examine our positioning over there and decide whether we should consolidate our programme to one or two popular subjects or widen the number of courses to grab as large a share of the market as possible.'
Professor Wong said supply was beginning to outstrip demand for mainstream courses such as Master of Business Administration.
'We are now of the collective view that we ought to offer more variety. We are looking at introducing courses in Chinese business law, creative media, languages and translation to raise interest among prospective students,' he said.
The disclosure to the South China Morning Post follows a sharp drop in the number of mainland students in the graduating class of June this year.
A total of 2,565 local and mainland students received postgraduate, degree and sub-degree awards from OpenU this month, down 2 per cent from the 2,620 graduates in last June.
The drop was precipitated by a plunge in the number of mainland graduates from 454 last year to 129, a 72 per cent decrease.
However the number of local graduates rose 12 per cent from 2,166 last June to 2,436 this month. The average age of local graduates was 36. The most popular courses were the Certificate in Law Enforcement and Security Management (612), Higher Diploma in Nursing (225), Master of Education (221) and Master of Business Administration (165).
