JUPAS admission rate falls to recent low as HKU takes in about 1,800 non-local undergraduates

This year, 34.3% of JUPAS applicants were admitted by the eight universities and the additional university included in the figures — a fall of 2.2 percentage points and the lowest rate in recent years. Separately, The University of Hong Kong said it had admitted about 1,800 new non-local undergraduates for the academic year.

JUPAS students made up about 60% of the university’s new intake, although that proportion was lower than last year. More than 700 of the non-local newcomers were overseas students from outside the mainland, up 77% from the previous year, and the intake came from 66 countries and regions.

The two figures describe different parts of the admissions picture. The 1,800 figure covers new non-local undergraduates, while the university estimated that non-local undergraduates accounted for about 40% of all enrolled undergraduates. It said that share remained within the Government’s 50% limit, with the exact proportion still being compiled.

The university’s director of admissions and international student exchange, Bennett Chi Kin YIM, said the lower JUPAS proportion should be viewed across a three-year cycle used to plan places, as a lower figure in one year could follow a higher intake in the previous year. He added that all eight universities had admitted fewer JUPAS students this year.

The university said it applies similar admissions standards to JUPAS and non-JUPAS applicants and has no fixed quota for either route. It would admit more JUPAS students if more applicants met its requirements, YIM said, although the university prefers to admit more students through JUPAS. He also said more than 180 top scorers from non-JUPAS routes, including DSE, IB and GCE A-level, had been admitted this year and that the university was not concerned that a broader intake would lower its standards.

The university attributed the rise in overseas interest partly to geopolitical developments, saying these had encouraged students to choose Hong Kong or other parts of Asia for study. It also said the latest 50% limit left room to receive more non-local students.