Section B The Costs of Higher Education
Chapter 8 : Expenditure

(cf Chapter 34 of "Higher Education in Hong Kong" (1996))

8.1	Within higher education, there is a wide variation of student-staff ratios between disciplines, and this is a major factor in determining relative costs. Typical values for major groups are given in Table 8.1, but there is much discrepancy within them (in the first group, clinical dentistry has a student : staff ratio of 5, and nursing 11; and in the second, physics 9 and mathematics 14)
Table 8.1 Student - Staff Ratio by Discipline Discipline Student-Staff Ratio 1994-95 1997-98 Medicine, Dentistry and Health 6 7 Sciences 12 12 Engineering and Technology 13 14 Business and Management 14 14 Social Sciences 13 13 Arts & Humanities 11 11 Education 14( note ) 13 Note: Not including HKIEd Source: UGC Secretariat
8.2	If generous staffing is the main determinant of the relatively high cost of higher education, the next must be that those staff are paid more than their colleagues in secondary or primary education. Typical annual salaries are given in Table 8.2. Table 8.2 Annual Salaries of Teachers in Primary and Secondary Schools and Tertiary Institutions
HK$/Year 1995-96 1997-98 Primary School Teacher 239,880 275,880 Secondary School Teacher 332,460 382,320 University Lecturer (non-clinical) 606,840 698,520 University (clinical) 725,700 835,380 Source : UGC Secretariat and Education Department
8.3	Although the salary bill for academic staff is the major component in recurrent expenditure on higher education, there are other substantial items. Expenditure on supporting staff, ranging from senior administrators to library and laboratory staff or porters and cleaners, is higher than in other levels of education. The maintenance and updating of equipment, library stock and buildings is also costly as, in some disciplines, is the provision of consumables. The major elements in total recurrent expenditure are shown in Table 8.3 for the UGC institutions. Table 8.3 Total Recurrent Expenditure in the UGC-funded Institutions
1994-95 1997-98 Academic Staff 45% 45% Other Staff 19% 19% Fringe Benefits 10% 10% Maintenance of Buildings 10% 7% Equipment 10% 5% Others 6% 14% Source: UGC Secretariat
	The purposes of the expenditure shown in Table 8.3 are, of course, diverse and include research as well as teaching.