Admission requirement in 4-University System – Anything missing. T. K Admission requirement in 4-University System – Anything missing? T.K. Ng (HKUST) 20 December 2008

Curriculum Design First question Universities faces - How different are students from new NSS? - affect programs design To what extent can we teach in the “same” way except starting from a lower level (new NSS = Form 6 model) p. 2

Curriculum Design First question Universities faces - How different are students from new NSS? - affect programs design - If not, how are they different compared with present HKCEE/HKAL students? - How do they compare with GCE students or IB students? p. 3

Curriculum Design Expect: Diversity of student profiles - affect programs design Can our future NSS students adapt to classrooms with diversified background of students? - How do they compare with GCE students or IB students? p. 4

Curriculum Design: Expect: Diversity of student profiles Students from: IB, GCE, SAT, HKDSE (x & ½ x for Science Subjects), International and mainland! Competition not restricted to within students taking HKDSE! p. 5

Curriculum Design: We have to take care of students from other background Will NSS students be better prepared in Language (English)? Project Investigations (Group work, innovation,…etc.) Self-learning? p. 6

Curriculum Design: Another point: Expect student profile more or less the same as current students (change is difficult) NSS Students will be (still) stronger in academic studies but weak in soft skills (communication, presentation, etc.)  Courses to strength soft skills in 1st and 2nd Yr.! p. 7

Admission Requirements: Diversity of students + “non-academic courses  Students have to work harder and more independently in university (compared with secondary school)! Question: How can we find these students? Will HKDSE students be better prepared than IB, SAT, GCE students? p. 8

Admission Requirements: School-based admission  total freedom in choosing program within a school (quota exists!) Flexibility reflected in more choices of programs, major and minors! More flexibilities in admission criteria? “Yes” for some programs (Business School, Humanities, etc.) (Interviews are usually essential) but “Not so much” for more technically oriented programs like Engineering, Physics, etc. p. 9

Admission Requirements: Details: 1) Each University has (minimum) University Entrance Requirement (4+2 x, 4+1 x, etc.) Problem (1): Applied Learning courses have not appeared yet when these requirements are set!  Not clear whether/how they will be counted! Problem (2): How about if a student has taken 4+3x? Most likely counted as additional scores! p. 10

Admission Requirements: Details: 2) Each Program has its way of counting scores - no coordinated efforts to release these requirements yet! - Programs want more information before finalizing! For example: Integrated Science is not counted as “Science” subject for School of Science in HKUST, but Combined Science is counted! p. 11

Admission Requirements: Another problem:- new HKDSE score alone may not be refined enough to distinguish between large number of students  Universities may need additional information in choosing students (student profile? Other qualifications like International competition, taking University courses, etc.) Can schools provide useful additional information for universities? p. 12

Summary: Universities and Schools probably have to work together to solve these practical problems! We probably need a few years before a stable pattern of secondary-school – University education can be formed! p. 13