Medical school hopefuls among Hong Kong top exam scorers against Chinese University plan to let them skip first year
Proposal to let them skip first year of medical school would add to work and curb opportunities
Some of the city's best-performing students are opposed to a controversial plan by the Chinese University of Hong Kong that would allow them to skip the first year of medical school.
The university announced the proposal last month but it was postponed last week after the secretary for education expressed his reservations and the Medical Council decided it needed further discussion.
The plan was to permit students who score 44 points out of 49 in the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exam to go straight into year two of studies from September. Seven of the 11 Hongkongers who achieved the best possible score in the DSE exam said they wanted to attend medical school. However, four of them opposed the plan, while the other three had not heard of it.
Watch: What's it like for Hong Kong ethnic minority students to take DSE, the city's university entrance exams
The four said they feared a shorter stint at university would put pressure on their course load, making for a more gruelling academic programme that would deprive them of other aspects of university life.
Ko Tsz-ngok, a top-scorer from Shun Tak Fraternal Association Leung Kau Kui College in Tuen Mun, who planned to apply to medical school, felt the plan was a bad idea. "Time should be spent getting used to university and figuring out your specialisation" in medical school, he said.
