Change to University of Hong Kong admission process welcomed by 70 per cent of school pupils ahead of final exams
- Students excelling in specialist areas will no longer be penalised if they get poor grades in mandatory subjects
- Survey by charity Youth New World finds changes will affect pupils’ further education choices
Getting good grades in a variety of subjects will no longer guarantee you a place at the University of Hong Kong, and most secondary school pupils consider that a good thing.
A survey released on Sunday showed that 70 per cent of those in their final year of secondary education supported the university’s decision to change its admission’s process to reward excellence in a specialist subject.
In the past, pupils earning top grades in one area, but poor marks in others, were often left at a disadvantaged, compared to those who tested well across a range of topics.
HKU’s new scoring system gives more credit for excelling in a particular field, although some students were concerned that all-rounders would now be the ones at a disadvantage, and the changes would affect how students prepared for the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exams.
The telephone survey, conducted by education charity Youth New World, also found that about 60 per cent of the 908 respondents said the new system would affect their further education choices.