9 universities in Hong Kong report new high for undergraduate admission rates amid slight rebound in applications
- Admission rate for bachelor’s degree programmes via Jupas is 39.6 per cent this year, narrowly exceeding last year’s record-breaking 39 per cent
- According to Jupas, 89.7 per cent of this year’s applicants have been offered spots at their top three choices
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).
Ng Po-shing, a consultant at student guidance centre Hok Yau Club, attributed the increase to universities offering more places than previously planned because they expected some applicants would turn them down.
“If you reach the general threshold for bachelor programmes, you will have a big chance of landing a spot at one of them,” he said, adding that less popular courses typically sent out more offers.
“When some applicants registered for Jupas, they were still deciding whether to study in Hong Kong or abroad. So it is likely that many might not accept offers at local universities through the system.”
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.
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.
Ginny Cho, 18, said she was glad to have obtained an offer from her top choice, a science broad-based programme at Chinese University (CUHK) that allows students to pursue various subjects and choose their major by the end of first or second year.
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“I was so nervous that I couldn’t sleep well these few nights. After checking the results, I was relieved,” she said.
Cho added that she would attend the programme’s orientation scheduled on Thursday and was looking forward to taking the next step in her life.
“I heard that university students can choose courses other than their major. I want to attend astronomy and Spanish courses,” Cho said, adding that she hoped to experience living in student halls and becoming a committee member at a club.
Jupas said 89.7 per cent of those who successfully applied for bachelor’s courses and the higher diploma programme 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), CUHK, University of Science and Technology (HKUST), City University, Polytechnic University (PolyU), Baptist University, Education University, Lingnan University and Metropolitan University.
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 in its medical programme to a pupil who had attained a 5** score in eight subjects in the university entrance exams this year.
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.
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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.
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.
Metropolitan University said its most competitive self-financing bachelor’s degree programme was its global business programme, with 178 applicants competing for 10 places, meaning that nearly 18 applicants had competed for one opening.
The Post has contacted Lingnan University for comment.
