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Section B The Costs of Higher Education
Chapter 9 : Income
(cf Chapter 35 of "Higher Education in Hong Kong" (1996))
| 9.1 |
Minimum fee levels in the UGC-funded institutions are set by government and current policy is to recover 18% of cost, although present levels actually recover somewhat less. The 18% has no firm logical foundation, although it is believed to be not dissimilar to recovery rates elsewhere in the world: the "cost" to which it is to be applied is, of course, controversial.
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| 9.2 |
Typical student fees are shown in Table 9.1. It will be seen that there is no differentiation as between subjects, although the costs of providing the teaching vary widely (see Table 10.2). In fact prior to 1974-75 there were differential fees, but in that year a uniform fee was introduced because of fears that student preference for low cost subjects could affect manpower provision. Government asked the UGC to reconsider the position in 1990 and the Committee advised against any change. One of the arguments for non-uniform fees is that students in the cheaper subjects are subsidising those in the more expensive ones. Using an overall figure of 18% (paragraph 9.1) and the unit costs of Table 10.2, with a weighted average factor of 1.56, the cost recovery through fees for a humanities student is 27%, compared with 6% for a medical student. When the UGC was asked to look at this issue in 1990, the corresponding figures were 15% and 3%.
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| 9.3 |
The government therefore now provides 94% of the cost of educating a medical student, but only 73% of the cost of educating a humanities student.
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Table 9.1 Student Fees |
| Institution |
Level |
1994-95 |
1997-98 |
Fees
(HK$) |
Period |
Fees
(HK$) |
Period |
| UGC HEIs (except HKIEd) |
Sub-degree |
18,000 |
1 year (FT) |
31,575 |
1 year (FT) |
| Degree (Ug, TPg, RPg) |
24,000 |
1 year (FT) |
42,100 |
1 year (FT) |
| CPE |
2,220 |
42 hours (PT) |
2,650 |
42 hours (PT) |
| HKIEd |
Sub-degree (Certificate) |
8,700 |
1 year (FT) |
31,575 |
1 year (FT) |
| APA |
Sub-degree |
18,000 |
42 hours (PT) |
31,575 |
42 hours (PT) |
| Degree (Ug)e |
24,000 |
42 hours (PT) |
42,100 |
42 hours (PT) |
| VTC Technical Colleges |
Sub-degree |
15,300 |
1 year (FT) |
21,000 |
1 year (FT) |
| Shue Yan College |
Sub-degree |
17,000 |
1 year (FT) |
31,000 |
1 year (FT) |
| Chu Hai College |
Sub-degree |
17,000 |
1 year (FT) |
24,000 |
1 year (FT) |
| HKMA |
CPE |
2,445 |
11 weeks (FT) |
2,800 |
15 weeks (FT) |
| 9.4 |
Research in HEIs is supported largely by the UGC recurrent grant and the Research Grants Council (itself funded via the UGC) , although there are other government and private sources. The research income from the various providers for new projects in 1996-97 is shown in Table 9.2.
Table 9.2 Research Income for New Projects in UGC Institutions
|
| Source |
HK$m |
| 1994-95 |
1996-97 |
| UGC |
218 |
350 |
| RGC |
246 |
333 |
| Charities |
21 |
12 |
| Government Depts |
60 |
33 |
| Industry and Commerce |
41 |
34 |
| Non-HK |
6 |
12 |
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| 9.5 |
The recurrent income and its sources of UGC-funded and non-UGC-funded instittues are shown in Tables 9.3 and 9.4 respectively.
Table 9.3 Total Recurrent Income of UGC-funded Institutions including CPE
|
| |
HK$m |
| 1994-95 |
1997-98 |
| Government Subventions |
7,628 |
10,678 |
| Earmarked Research Grants |
260 |
330 |
| Tuition Fees |
1,726 |
2,553 |
| Other Income |
1,022 |
1,806 |
| Total |
10,636 |
15,367 |
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Table 9.4 Total Recurrent Income of non-UGC Providers
|
| |
HK$m |
| 1994-95 |
1997-98 |
| HKAPA & TCs |
528 |
688 |
| HKIEd1 |
307 |
-- |
| Private Colleges 2 |
350 |
580 |
| CPE (mostly internal provision) |
750 |
N/A 3 |
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