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Elite Higher Education in Hong Kong

861 / ~4½ sternsternsternsternstern_0.2 Julia Y. . 2016
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ELC 1012 English for University Studies Assignment

An examination of the advantages and disadvantages of elite higher education in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, only a few students can be admitted annually to local universities or educational institutions. This education system can be classified as elite higher education since a small number of students with relatively good results can be picked by those universities and institutions of higher education.

The education system has both advantages and disadvantages. While it avoids the waste of talented manpower, it generates numerous unsuccessful students. This essay will examine these advantages and disadvantages in more detail.


Allowing the minority to receive higher education prevents the waste of human resources. Hallak (as cited in Wang, 2003, p.278) believes that the imbalance between the supply and demand of highly educated manpower will cause “educated unemployment”. Wang (2003) emphasises that the large number of higher education graduates being unemployed is a waste of human resources.

These problems are less likely to appear in Hong Kong, as the number of graduates from institutions of higher education each year is small enough to satisfy the demand. The Hong Kong government has implemented an elite education system which led to a lower enrollment rate in higher education, thus forestalling the production of an excessive number of higher education graduates.


However, a great number of unsuccessful students have been produced at the same time. Lucas (1982) notes that some people oppose elitism and consider that creating a plethora of poor students, who failed to be admitted to universities or educational institutions, is not only unfavorable to society, but also causes discrimination against those students.

For instance, in Hong Kong, some employers may assume that those students are nonentities when compared with higher education graduates, owing to the fact that only a minority of students are eligible to have the limited number of funded places. In this situation, some special abilities of the majority, such as superior leadership, excellent creativity and exceptional athletic ability, are more likely underestimated and neglected and the outflow of competent persons might increase.


While some people believe that elite higher education will negatively affect society, other suggest that it maintains low expenditure on education. According to Boezerooy and Vossensteyn (1999), the more students who are admitted successfully to higher education institutions, the greater educational expense which will be paid by different groups of people, such as governments, students and institutions of higher education.

The expenditure on higher education is low in Hong Kong, since the government provides very few subsidized places for secondary school graduates. This low expense may facilitate the Hong Kong government to input more resources in other aspects, for example infrastructure development, social security and other welfare services which benefit the vast majority.

Some educational institutions afraid that the growth of higher education will degrade quality and reputation (Liu, 2012). In other words, elite higher education can maintain the financial burden on education institutions at a low level and safeguard their teaching quality and reputation.


However, elite higher education may leads to changes on educational value. The universities and education institutions in Hong Kong mainly focus on the results of students in order to determine whether students are qualified to further their study in the schools.

If this situation continues, most students might develop the wrong idea in values and lose a proper purpose in learning. At an extreme level, students might lose their academic integrity and execute some improper actions, such as plagiarism and cheating in examinations, as they put too much focus on their results.


In conclusion, elite higher education in Hong Kong does involve advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, it avoids the waste of financial and human resources, but on the other, it alters educational values and generates a plethora of poor students, who fail to be admitted to universities or educational institutions.

Only by providing more higher education vacancies to more students before entering the society, can the real talent of students be exposed thereby, exerting influence and bringing innovation and improvement to the community.


References

Boezerooy, P. & Vossensteyn, H. (1999). How to get in? – A comparative overview of access to higher education, Higher Education in Europe 24(3), 349–358.


Liu, Jian. (2012). Examining massification policies and their consequences for equality in Chinese higher education: A cultural perspective.
Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education and Educational Planning,
64(5), 647-660.



Wang, R. (2003). From elitism to mass higher education in Taiwan: The problems faced.
Higher Education,
46(3), 261-287.



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