A quota system restricting Early Admissions Scheme (EAS) applicants from applying to study popular subjects, including medicine and global business, is a drawback to the scheme, a participating university points out.
Henry Wai Wing-kun, registrar at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), said it was unfair to some EAS students as the University Grants Committee had fixed a one-third quota for each subject in enrolling EAS students each year, resulting in some EAS applicants not being admitted in their first choice.
For example, some students cannot study the most popular subjects like medicine due to the quota even though they have listed them as their first choice.
Medicine, actuarial science, double-degrees and global business programmes are the most popular choices among EAS students with nine to 10 As at HKU.
The top five subjects among EAS students at the Chinese University are also medicine and business related. This year, 131 applicants listed medical studies as their first choice, but only 47 EAS students were admitted.
Apart from quota restrictions, Mr Wai said they were concerned whether EAS students were mature enough to study earlier than other FormSeven graduates.
The first batch of EAS students, who enrolled in 2002, graduated two years ago. He was pleased their results showed they were capable of managing their studies.