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With the commencement of the New Academic Structure in 2009, the last cohort of about 31000 day school candidates sitting for the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE) this year will have the results announced on 29 June 2012.

HKALE graduates are provided with high quality and diversified study pathways with multiple entry and exit points. The eight University Grants Committee (UGC) funded institutions and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts will offer 15150 places for normative 3-year undergraduate degree programmes. The self-financing post-secondary institutions will also provide about 7400 degree places and 37500 sub-degree places for both HKALE and Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education candidates. In addition, there are other pathways for students to pursue further studies, including Yi Jin Diploma, vocational education and training programmes and other programmes, which provide more than 35000 places in total.

To facilitate students’ application for non-Joint University Programmes Admissions System (non-JUPAS) post-secondary programmes, the Electronic Advance Application System for Post-secondary Programmes (E-APP) was launched on 9 February 2012 so that students can make advance applications and may obtain a conditional offer before the release of public examination results. Upon the release of the HKALE results on 29 June 2012, E-APP will obtain the results of the applicants from the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority and send them to the institutions concerned. HKALE students meeting the requirements of the conditional offer will only need to confirm acceptance as specified by individual institutions instead of rushing to queue for admission on the date of release of HKALE results.

In order to allow enough time for students to make informed decision when choosing their programmes, all non-JUPAS institutions have agreed to allow the HKALE candidates with confirmed offer to pay the enrolment deposit required by noon of 5 July 2012. Thereafter, the remaining places available can be released to other applicants. Most of the non-JUPAS institutions have also agreed that the amount of enrolment deposit would be $5,000 or below.

To facilitate students in their applications for post-secondary programmes in the double cohort year, institutions may provide refunds under some conditions. In general, if students have accepted offer of a place for full-time UGC-funded degree programme through JUPAS, they may apply for full refund of the enrolment deposit paid after paying an administrative fee. An indicative summary on the refund policies of the institutions has already been uploaded onto the Information Portal for Accredited Post-secondary Programmes (iPASS) and E-APP websites. For details, students should check with individual institutions direct.

To provide students with the latest information on the availability of places still open for application, EDB has recently set up a webpage for "Programmes Available for Application from Post-secondary Institutions (2012/13 Academic Year)" on iPASS through which institutions will provide updates at least twice a day on the availability of their post-secondary programmes.

HKALE candidates could find more detailed information in the following websites addresses provided by EDB in planning their articulation for post-secondary education:

Education Bureau
June 2012