Exams adviser admits cover-up on part-time job

A former lecturer at City University yesterday admitted he had covered up his moonlighting at a private tutorial college, where he offered 'model essays' for A-level examinations.

Dr Ho Tim's university nominated him to sit on an Examinations Authority's subject committee, and he failed to tell the college when he went on to accept the part-time job last year.

Dr Ho said he left City University's Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics because he felt guilty about misleading the university.

'This is my fault. I did not inform the university about my second job. I feel sorry that the image of the university and my colleagues could be damaged,' he said.

'I planned to work at the tutorial school for several months or a year. I thought the period would be short and cause no problems,' added Dr Ho, speaking publicly for the first time after the A-level results last week.

About 600 students taking a Chinese-language exam were found to have memorised and reproduced parts of essays written by him.

They did not receive any marks for them.

Dr Ho, who joined the exam authority in 1993, two years before he accepted the post at the tutorial school, denied that he had asked his students to memorise his essays.

'I presented my essays just to let them know how to write an essay. I chose the topics because they were popular. I did not get any tip on that,' he said.

A university spokesman said all teaching staff should get approval from individual departments before taking outside jobs.

The Education Department is investigating a private tutorial school in Tsuen Wan. The school, part of the Intell Education group, which employs Dr Ho part-time, has no licence.

The department requires schools teaching eight or more students at a time, or 20 or more a day, to register.

A spokesman for Intell Education said it had tried to apply for a licence, but the process took time.