New | Scholarism duo among students to secure Jupas-funded university places
Almost 64,000 school leavers learned whether they had won subsidised university spots on Friday, with only 30 per cent successful
Prominent student activists Joshua Wong Chi-fung and Agnes Chow Ting both secured places at local universities on Friday, as tens of thousands of secondary school graduates found out if their applications for subsidised university places had been successful.
A total of 27,943 school leavers, including the two core members of student activist group Scholarism, achieved or surpassed the minimum exam scores necessary for university entry this year.
But only about 14,600 – or just over half – obtained a government-subsidised first-year university degree place through the Joint University Programmes Admissions System, or Jupas.
Jupas is the system through which students who have completed the Diploma of Secondary Education exams apply for places at nine member institutions – for degree and sub-degree programmes and for self-financed degree programmes.
Watch: What it's like to get your HKDSE results
Chow said she received an offer for a place in Baptist University’s bachelor of social science programme, while Wong posted on his Facebook page that he had been admitted by a unnamed university through Jupas.
He did not reveal further details, saying he was still waiting for the results of an appeal of some of his exam scores.
Chow said she chose social science because she wants to understand more about the theory behind social movements.
“I hope that I don’t just join social movements myself, but also understand them academically,” she said.
Interest in the Scholarism pair’s exam results was so high last month that they held a press conference to announce them.
But many others were less fortunate, as almost half of those who met the minimum requirements still lost out in the competition for subsidised places.
Each programme available through Jupas decides on who to accept based mainly on exam results and how highly the applicant ranked the programme in their list of choices.
Wong Chi-ho, who took the DSE exams for the second time this year, got a level 3 in English and a level 4 in his other five subjects, far exceeding the minimum requirement of a level 3 in Chinese and English, a level 2 in liberal studies and mathematics, and a level 2 in any of the two elective subjects.
The results are graded from levels 1 to 5.
But Wong did not receive any university offer and will have to go to the Vocational Training Council’s centre in Cheung Sha Wan to apply for a self-financed bachelor of science in health care programme.
“I planned to challenge myself this year because I really want to enter a government-funded degree programme,” said Wong. “I feel a bit disappointed. It’ll be great if the government can increase the number of subsidised places.”
Only 30 per cent of the 63,915 students who applied via Jupas for degree, sub-degree and self-financed degree programmes received an offer this year.
