Thousands of students who sat the Diploma of Secondary Education exam face limited spots at public universities. Self-financing institutions provide subsidized alternatives in key fields.
Some 43,347 day-school candidates sat Hong Kong’s Diploma of Secondary Education exam this year. Only about 12,000 subsidised undergraduate places exist at the city’s eight public universities.
Self-financing institutions offer 3,425 first-year degree places across 47 programmes. These fall under the Study Subsidy Scheme for Designated Professions in 10 disciplines with strong manpower demand.
The annual subsidy ranges from HK$46,780 to HK$81,450 for the coming academic year. A survey showed 85 per cent of Form Six students in the 2024-25 cohort chose local tertiary education.
