Tertiary fee voucher scheme will improve career prospects

As Hong Kong strives to develop a knowledge-based economy, higher education becomes even more in demand. According to new statistics, the number of higher education places available for bachelor degree and associate degree aspirants already exceeds the number of qualified students. Hence, post-secondary education is likely to become the minimum educational requirement in the job market. Nevertheless, post-secondary education is fairly expensive. In fact, some argue that many tertiary students have found themselves deep in debt after graduation because of the high cost of their tertiary education. This is particularly true with students who have taken a self-financed tertiary course - which is much more expensive than a government-funded one. With starting salaries for new college graduates remaining low over the years, the heavy burden of repaying student loans has caused much concern among young people.

It is therefore great news for young people that Chief Executive-designate Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has proposed introducing an education voucher scheme. According to news reports, the proposed scheme will provide HK$30,000 education vouchers annually to help secondary school leavers pursue self-financed tertiary courses. The idea is to lessen the financial burden on students who pursue self-financed undergraduate programs - by letting them pay the same amount for tuition as those admitted to government-funded universities.

I greatly welcome the thinking behind this proposal because the voucher scheme would be recognition of the quality of higher education provided by self-financing post-secondary institutions. Also, the voucher scheme would eliminate differences between the tuition fees of government-funded and self-financed places. This will ultimately make things fairer.

But I would go a step further and offer some ideas on how to enhance the proposed scheme - in the hope more students will benefit from it.

Firstly, it is all about the amount of the subsidy. Ideally, it will have annual adjustments to reflect increases in costs so the purchasing power of the subsidy can be maintained. This is important because if the annual subsidy is not inflation adjusted, students will face the ever-increasing costs of self-financed higher education.

Secondly, the current proposal only focuses on self-financed undergraduate programs. I believe the subsidy should cover all levels of programs including sub-degree programs. Currently, more than one-third of the qualified students choose to take up self-financed sub-degree programs at various educational institutions instead of enrolling for self-financed bachelor degrees for various reasons. For the sake of fairness, these students should also be subsidized. But this goes beyond just fairness. Equal treatment for both degree and sub-degree self-financed programs will also allow students greater flexibility and freedom in choosing their programs. Without this restriction, it would be easier for students to pursue their educations based on their own preferences rather than on considering the availability of the subsidy.

Thirdly, in addition to the subsidy for self-financed undergraduate places, it would be beneficial if subsidies are also provided to those who cannot meet the requirements for enrolling in self-financed programs but take up other post-secondary courses. The additional burden on the public coffers is minimal but the message behind such a move is encouraging. It shows that the government is committed to providing more opportunities to young people.

The new administration would go a long way in helping many young people develop a rewarding career by enhancing the proposed education voucher scheme for self-financed education. Understandably, the proposed voucher scheme has room for improvement as it is a new initiative. The government should be open-minded to any new suggestions. After all, this is really all about providing more opportunities for our next generation.

(HK Edition 06/08/2017 page9)