Widespread trial runs of the English exit test developed and used by Polytechnic University (PolyU) are likely to be carried out across campuses next April.
The move would come ahead of the introduction of a voluntary English test for university students in the next academic year.
Faced with pressure from employers, the University Grants Committee (UGC) is determined to devise a standard test as an indicator of university students' English language ability.
It had wanted to adopt an international version such as the benchmark Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS), but the PolyU test is expected to be chosen instead, Education Post has learned.
A final decision will be made by the UGC in January, but efforts are already under way to enhance and adapt the PolyU test, the first to be developed and used by a Hong Kong university, to all students.
Thomas Lumley, associate director of the Asian Centre for Language Assessment Research at PolyU, has held discussions with members of a universities taskforce responsible for the language issue on how to develop the test further.