HKU has reset university admissions in the city, students will need time to adapt

I am writing to respond to the article “Pupils welcome changes to HKU admission process”, (December 2).

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is widely considered the city’s leading university because it has the highest international ranking among local universities. Therefore, any decision or change HKU makes affects all other universities in Hong Kong. This time, the change made by HKU means that students who excel in specialist areas will no longer be penalised if they get poor grades in the mandatory subjects in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) examination.

The change mainly affects secondary school students who are preparing for the DSE. The announcement of the new system on November 3 was a little late for the secondary six students who are preparing to take the DSE in 2019.

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While 70 per cent of survey respondents said they were satisfied with the change, the new system could be detrimental to some students. For example, the students who expected to be admitted to HKU under the old system might now lose their places at Hong Kong’s oldest university to students who did not expect to get in at all.

In brief, the change will reset university admissions in Hong Kong in general and students will need time to adjust to it.

Kevin Lee, Tseung Kwan O