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Results of 2004/05 Common English Proficiency Assessment Scheme released

The University Grants Committee (UGC) announced today (July 29) results of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) taken by final year students of UGC-funded undergraduate degree programmes in 2004/05 under the Common English Proficiency Assessment Scheme (CEPAS).

About 8,700, or 55% of all the full-time and part-time undergraduate final year students, participated in the Scheme in 2004/05. This is comparable to the number of participants in the past two years.

The average overall score is 6.64 on a nine-point scale, compared with 6.51 in 2003/04. About 87% of the students obtained a score in the 6.0 - 7.5 range, which means they are 'competent' or 'good' users.

Among the four modules of IELTS, students, on average, did better in reading and listening, scoring overall 6.98 and 7.00 respectively.

Breakdowns of candidates' average scores by broad discipline and by institution are attached at Annexes A and B. Comparisons of the overall average scores in 2003/04 and 2004/05, broken down by broad academic discipline and by institution, are attached at Annexes C and D.

Commenting on this round's results, Dr Alice Lam, Chairman of UGC said, "Despite its voluntary nature, around 8,700 final year students had participated in the Scheme. The results show that the majority of the university graduates who took the IELTS test can be regarded as 'competent' or 'good' users, which is the level required by many employers and overseas academic institutions".

"The Scheme has successfully enhanced university students' awareness of the importance of English proficiency, and it is attracting more recognition from society. In addition to the Civil Service Bureau, more professional and employer bodies have accepted IELTS results for recruitment purpose.

"We shall continue to strengthen our efforts in promoting the CEPAS targeting at employers, students, as well as the wider community," she said.

Thirty-five testing sessions were held from November 2004 to May 2005. As for the 2005/06 round of CEPAS, the registration period began on April 29, and will last until October 22. Summer testing sessions will be offered from July to October, as a new initiative to facilitate both students and employers.

The UGC encourages all final year undergraduate students of UGC-funded degree programmes to participate in the Scheme. Test fees will continue to be reimbursed (once only) if students agree to reflect their participation in CEPAS in their transcript. For those who wish to obtain more detailed information, they may visit the CEPAS website (www.ugccepa.com), call the IELTS hotline at 2620 0321 or contact the Registrar's Offices of their respective institution.

CEPAS is a voluntary assessment scheme intended to encourage students to be more aware of the importance of proficiency in English and to provide a common framework for assessing and documenting graduating students' English proficiency. IELTS has been adopted by UGC as the Common English Proficiency Assessment. Through the assessment, the UGC aims to benchmark the English proficiency of local university graduates against a reliable, internationally validated instrument, which will serve as useful reference for students when they enter the workforce after they graduate or when they pursue further studies.

IELTS is an internationally validated English testing instrument, and is jointly managed by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, the British Council and the IDP Education Australia. In recent years, over 500,000 candidates took the IELTS test annually around the world. Its results are reported on a band scale from 0 to 9. Overall band scores, listening and reading scores are reported in whole and half bands; writing and speaking scores are reported in whole bands only. Candidates scoring Band 6 are considered competent users who have a generally effective command of the language, despite some inaccuracies, while those scoring Band 7 are considered good users who generally handle complex language well.

An overall band of 6.5 or above with no subtest score below band 6 obtained in one sitting in IELTS are accepted as equivalent to a pass in the Use of English paper of the Hong Kong Government's Common Recruitment Examination within two years from the date of the IELTS test.

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UGC Secretariat
29 July 2005

Annex A

Distribution of Average Overall Scores and Sub-scores
of Final Year Undergraduate Students in 2004/05 by Broad Academic Discipline

Broad Academic Discipline No. of final year students participated in CEPAS# Average
Reading Sub-score
Average
Listening Sub-score
Average
Writing Sub-score
Average
Speaking Sub-score
Average
Overall Score
Arts & Humanities 971 7.01 7.21 6.35 6.46 6.82
Business & Management 2422 6.98 7.02 6.19 6.22 6.66
Education 345 6.55 6.79 6.02 6.19 6.44
Engineering & Technology 1672 6.87 6.81 5.97 5.99 6.47
Medicine, Dentistry & Health 300 7.22 7.26 6.20 6.35 6.81
Physical Sciences 1593 6.96 6.91 6.06 6.02 6.54
Social Sciences 1366 7.14 7.14 6.36 6.39 6.81
Total 8669 6.98 7.00 6.16 6.19 6.64
# Both part-time and full-time students are eligible to participate.

Annex B

Distribution of Average Overall Scores and Sub-scores
of Final Year Undergraduate Students in 2004/05 by Institution

Institution No. and % of final year students participated in CEPAS# Average
Reading Sub-score
Average
Listening Sub-score
Average
Writing Sub-score
Average
Speaking Sub-score
Average
Overall Score
CityU 1357
49%
6.64 6.60 5.96 5.99 6.35
HKBU 790
55%
6.77 6.76 6.08 6.08 6.49
LU 483
64%
6.50 6.77 5.98 5.94 6.34
CUHK 1696
59%
7.31 7.29 6.32 6.36 6.88
HKIEd* 264
58%*
6.38 6.58 5.88 6.04 6.27
PolyU 1213
53%
6.81 6.88 6.05 6.10 6.51
HKUST 1343
74%
7.04 7.01 6.11 6.11 6.62
HKU 1523
54%
7.33 7.38 6.45 6.50 6.98
Total 8669
55%
6.98 7.00 6.16 6.19 6.64
# Except for HKIEd, the participation rate is calculated based on total number of projected graduates, including full-time and part-time.
* Candidates from HKIEd are all full-time students, accounting for 58% and 27% of projected graduates from full-time and all programmes in 2004/05 respectively.

Annex C

Comparison of Average Overall Scores
of Final Year Undergraduate Students in 2003/04 and 2004/05
by Broad Academic Discipline

Broad Academic Discipline 2003/04 2004/05
No. of final year students participated in CEPAS# Average Overall Score No. of final year students participated in CEPAS# Average Overall Score
Arts & Humanities 834 6.67 971 6.82
Business & Management 2692 6.53 2422 6.66
Education 292 6.30 345 6.44
Engineering & Technology 1796 6.40 1672 6.47
Medicine, Dentistry & Health 244 6.68 300 6.81
Physical Sciences 1590 6.35 1593 6.54
Social Sciences 1271 6.75 1366 6.81
Total 8719 6.51 8669 6.64
# Both part-time and full-time students are eligible to participate.

Annex D

Comparison of Average Overall Scores and Participation
of Final Year Undergraduate Students in 2003/04 and 2004/05 by Institution

Institution 2003/04 2004/05
No. and % of final year students participated in CEPAS# Average Overall Score No. and % of final year students participated in CEPAS# Average Overall Score
CityU 1459
53%
6.26 1357
49%
6.35
HKBU 719
50%
6.32 790
55%
6.49
LU 515
72%
6.18 483
64%
6.34
CUHK 1626
56%
6.66 1696
59%
6.88
HKIEd* 190
53%*
6.05 264
58%*
6.27
PolyU 1021
46%
6.44 1213
53%
6.51
HKUST 1447
79%
6.48 1343
74%
6.62
HKU 1742
62%
6.87 1523
54%
6.98
Total 8791
57%
6.51 8669
55%
6.64
# Except for HKIEd, the participation rate is calculated based on total number of projected graduates, including full-time and part-time.
* Candidates from HKIEd are all full-time students, accounting for 58% and 53% of projected graduates from full-time programmes in 2004/05 and 2003/04 respectively. Their participation rate based on all programmes for both 2003/04 and 2004/05 is 27%.