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Gary Cheung

More than 1,200 students have benefited so far from schemes at three tertiary institutions to admit applicants based on their non-academic achievements.

The Chinese University (CUHK) was the first in 1999 to introduce a self-recommendation scheme, followed in the same year by the Polytechnic University (PolyU) and the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). The vast majority of students have been admitted to the PolyU.

The schemes allow applicants to list awards in international or regional competitions in areas such as music, sports, creative writing and art, and to detail successes in inter-school challenges or community service.

CUHK enrolled 45 such students in 1999 and 41 in 2000. There were 57 admitted last September out of a total first-year intake of 2,856.

PolyU admitted 413 such candidates in 1999, 115 in 2000 and 517 - or 13.6 per cent of the 3,183 first-year intake - last year.

At HKIEd, four of the 896 first-year students were enrolled under its self-recommendation scheme last year and 11 were admitted the year before.

PolyU also recorded the highest number of applications for the places in the current academic year, with a total of 5,837 compared with 3,993 at CUHK.

A Lingnan University spokeswoman said it had launched a similar scheme in February. The deadline for applications for entry this September is June 3.

The schemes are aimed at reducing emphasis on grading by exam scores and encouraging all-round development, but applicants must fulfil minimum entry requirements.

'They will not be considered if they fail to meet the standard, no matter how well they perform in non-academic areas,' said PolyU president Professor Poon Chung-kwong.

But the high proportion of students admitted under the scheme indicated the importance his university attached to students' non-academic talents, he added. Most of the students admitted under the scheme last year have performed satisfactorily, with a grade point average of about 2.8 in the last semester. Only ten scored below the minimum average of 2.0 and face deregistration unless they can improve their academic work.



1,200 win university places for non-academic prowess