Home > UGC Publications > Press Releases > 2010 > Almost 12,100 university students participate in CEPAS

Almost 12,100 university students participate in CEPAS

The University Grants Committee (UGC) announced today (January 13) that almost 12,100 final year students of UGC-funded undergraduate degree programmes have registered for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) under the eighth round of the Common English Proficiency Assessment Scheme (CEPAS). The number of registered participants is a record-high, and represents an increase of about 2.3% as compared with the figure last year.

Commenting on the registration number, Mr Michael Stone, Secretary-General of the UGC said, "With the assistance of our institutions, the eighth round of registration for the Scheme in 2009/10 has been successfully completed. 12,067 final year students have submitted their applications this time. We are pleased to see that the Scheme has continued to invite participation by a considerable number of students. Given the voluntary nature of CEPAS, the number of participants demonstrates that students attach great importance to their English proficiency."

CEPAS was first launched in 2002/03. The participation number has been increasing steadily over the last few rounds, from around 7,300 final year students in 2002/03 to almost 11,800 in 2008/09 round.

"We are glad to see the Scheme continues to gain popularity and acceptance amongst students," Mr Stone said.

To facilitate participants, the UGC has been improving the registration and testing arrangements over the years. Starting from 2006/07, students can register online. In this round, over 99% of students have chosen to register online. In addition, summer testing sessions from July to October have been offered since 2005/06. Out of a total of 40 testing sessions to be organised in 2009/10, 19 are summer testing sessions. More than 4,700 students have registered to take part in these sessions.

A breakdown of the number of participants by institution is at Annex for reference.

Ends/Wednesday, January 13, 2010
NNNN


Annex

Number of Participants in
Common English Proficiency Assessment Scheme in 2009/10

 

Institution 2009/10
No. of participants Percentage of projected graduates
City University of Hong Kong 2,117 68%
Hong Kong Baptist University 1,049 65%
Lingnan University 587 75%
The Chinese University of Hong Kong 2,223 72%
The Hong Kong Institute of Education* 390 76%*
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 2,237 72%
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology 1,481 79%
The University of Hong Kong 1,983 59%
Total :
12,067 68%

* 383 of the 390 candidates from HKIEd are full-time students, accounting for 76% of projected graduates from full-time programmes in 2009/10. The 390 candidates account for 42% of projected graduates of all programmes in 2009/10.