Nine Hong Kong universities have recorded a new high for undergraduate admission rates in the 2023-24 academic year, amid a slight rebound in the number of applicants.
The admission rate for bachelor’s degree programmes was 39.6 per cent this year, narrowly exceeding last year’s record-breaking figure of 39 per cent, according to a Post calculation based on data released by the Joint University Programmes Admission System (Jupas).
Out of this year’s 39,948 applicants, 16,149 students received offers through Jupas, a unified system for university applications, from either a bachelor’s degree course or a higher diploma programme in early childhood education at the Education University.
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The 39.6 per cent admission rate does not include the planned intake of 330 first-year students to the Education University’s early childhood higher diploma course.
A total of 39 per cent of 39,523 applicants last year were admitted to an undergraduate course, the highest since 2012.
Jupas said 89.7 per cent of applicants this year were offered spots at their top three choices, compared with 89.63 per cent in 2022.
Nine universities in the city admit students who sit the Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (DSE) through Jupas. These are the University of Hong Kong (HKU), Chinese University, University of Science and Technology (HKUST), City University, Polytechnic University (PolyU), Baptist University, Education University, Lingnan University and Metropolitan University.
Ng Po-shing, a consultant at student guidance centre Hok Yau Club, said the slightly higher admission rate this year was because of universities offering more places than they had at first planned out of concern that some applicants would not accept them.
“When some applicants registered for Jupas, they were still deciding whether they should study in Hong Kong or abroad. So it is likely that many might not end up accepting offers at local universities through the system,” Ng said.
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He added that less popular programmes typically issued more offers.
Ng said the admission rates for undergraduate courses had been increasing over the years, but he stressed that students still had to meet the requirements for enrolment.
“If you reach the threshold, you will have a big chance of landing a spot at a bachelor’s degree programme,” he said.
HKU said it had made offers to two of four top DSE scorers who attained the highest mark of 5** in at least seven subjects this year. The university added it had admitted more than 40 per cent of the top 1 per cent of candidates.
Programmes popular among students include medicine, international business and law, the university said. It also admitted 96 non-Chinese speaking students, the highest among all campuses in the city.
Chinese University said it had taken 3,218 students through Jupas this year, adding that offers were made to more than half of the top 100 DSE scorers. Popular programmes among the top candidates included medicine, artificial intelligence, Chinese-language education, mathematics education and quantitative finance.
It added that it had offered a spot at its medical programme to a pupil who had attained a 5** score in eight subjects in the university entrance exams this year.
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A spokesman for HKUST said it had admitted 1,761 students who had applied through Jupas, and nearly all of them were offered places at their top three choices, with the most popular programme being global business.
A PolyU spokeswoman said the university accepted 2,161 students through Jupas.
She added that candidates admitted to its rehabilitation sciences programme with a specialisation in physiotherapy had the highest scores.
City University said it had offered places to 1,700 students this year, with 90 per cent securing a spot in their top three choices.
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A total of 1,160 applicants were offered places at Baptist University with its Chinese medicine and biochemical science programmes being the most popular choices.
Education University said it had enrolled 882 students through Jupas, a similar level to last year.
SCMP has contacted Lingnan University and Metropolitan University for their comments.
