The city's oldest law school has made an apparent U-turn and postponed for two years its plan to tighten requirements for admission to a training programme for lawyers.
Controversy over the planned reform came after some students in the University of Hong Kong law school were told by their professors early this month that the university would only take into account the grades of their legal subjects for admission to the Postgraduate Certificate of Laws (PCLL) programme, a prerequisite course for law-degree holders to become lawyers.
The new entry threshold was to take effect from September, according to the students, who declined to be named.
Currently, the school also considers applicants' performance in non-legal subjects for admission to the PCLL programme. Many students and practising lawyers said the new policy would mean a higher threshold for the PCLL programme.
But after the strong objections from students, HKU told the South China Morning Post that the new policy would not take effect until 2014 - two years later than students had been told.
'I don't understand why the university needs to set such a difficult threshold,' Civic Party lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah said of the new policy. 'I've received many students' complaints, saying: 'It's so difficult now. How can I get in?''