Oxford don says education reforms 'won't hurt' Hongkongers' chances
Pro-vice-chancellor at leading university says 3-3-4 system won't dim enrolment prospects
Secondary-education reforms that abandoned a long-running British model of schooling will not affect Hongkongers' chances of winning a place at Oxford University, its pro-vice-chancellor says.
"We have students coming to us with many, many different high-school backgrounds, so we have a very sophisticated table of recruitments, to make sure we can judge people fairly on their merits," said Professor William James.
Hong Kong departed from the British four-year senior-secondary curriculum in 2009. Pupils now go through three years of senior-secondary education, and those qualified to go on to university will take four years to complete standard courses, up from three years previously.
This year, the first batch of affected pupils took new exams after Form Six to assess their eligibility for university studies.
"My personal view is that the four-year curriculum in Hong Kong universities is a great education, a great improvement," James said.
Oxford is planning to roughly double its number of permanent scholarships, as it seeks an extra £100 million (HK$1.24 billion) within the next five years to host 100 students from around the world each year.