Call to make higher education readily available and affordable

Letters have been written to this paper in response to the issue of university admissions, brought up by this column about a month ago.

One challenged the view raised in the column that there should be more university places, specifically, government-funded places, to meet young people's rising aspirations. In today's age of qualification inflation, the writer claimed, there might not be enough jobs around for an increased supply of degree holders. Another who wrote in supported the idea that universities should diversify their admissions criteria rather than relying heavily on scores to tap diverse talents.

The concern about an inadequate supply of degree-level jobs is understandable. Who wants to see youngsters with a tertiary education while away their time doing repetitive, manual work? But rather than limiting the growth of higher education, it is the government's responsibility to diversify the economy and provide the impetus for the growth of new sectors in line with the modern economy, hence creating higher-level jobs.

Academics have long argued for the need for a more diversified economy. Increasingly, students have become better aware of the options for degree studies, rather than going after business and finance, which nonetheless remain highly popular subjects. Nursing, for one, has attracted more interest as Hong Kong braces itself for an ageing society. Other sectors such as the cultural industry are in need of fresh blood to create new ideas that travel far and wide in the internet age. Future entrepreneurs could be nurtured through support for start-ups.

Statistically, there are far more students qualified for university education than there are places for them. In the last Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education examination, 26,307 students made the grade for university entrance, but there were only about 15,000 government-funded places available.

Those eyeing further education also include the growing band of associate degree graduates, some of whom managed to get into degree studies on the strength of their GPA (grade point average) in community colleges. Some, however, were admitted into self-financed programmes run by universities alongside the government-funded ones, paying doubled tuition fees.