Joint University Programmes Admissions System

The Joint University Programmes Admissions System (Chinese:

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

大學聯合招生辦法) or JUPAS (聯招) in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

is a unified system for applying to the nine member institutions

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

for full-time undergraduate programmes. In 2008 admissions, 35,298 students applied for programmes of the nine institutions under this scheme. The scheme initially included all the full-time government funded degrees from the member institute, before the participation of full-time government-funded sub-degrees in 2000, and self-financed full-time degrees in 2006.

History

Prior to the introduction of JUPAS in 1990, the admission process of tertiary education institutes were independent of each other, and two separate entrance examinations, the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination

Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination

The Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination , or more commonly known as the A-level, conducted by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority , is normally taken by senior students at the end of their matriculation in Hong Kong. In 2010, 39,772 candidates entered for the examination...

(HKALE) which was designed for 3 years tertiary education curriculum (mainly used by University of Hong Kong), and Hong Kong Higher Level Examination

Hong Kong Higher Level Examination

The Hong Kong Higher Level Examination was a public examination taken by students in Hong Kong at the end of Form 6 , in preparation for entry to the Chinese University of Hong Kong which then offered 4 year courses...

(HKHLE), which was designed for 4 years tertiary education curriculum (mainly used by Chinese University of Hong Kong) were provided for students. In order to reduce the students' pressure of dealing with two examinations and admission processes, the University Grants Committee

University Grants Committee (Hong Kong)

The University Grants Committee of Hong Kong is an advisory committee responsible for advising the Government of Hong Kong on the development and funding needs of higher education institutions within Hong Kong....

set up the JUPAS to unite the admission processes of five of the institutions (City Polytechnic of Hong Kong

City University of Hong Kong

City University of Hong Kong is a comprehensive research university in Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and became a fully accredited university in 1994. It has achieved fast growth in recent years and received international recognition for its academic achievements...

, The Hong Kong Polytechnic Institute, Hong Kong Baptist University

Hong Kong Baptist University

Hong Kong Baptist University is a publicly-funded tertiary institution with a Christian education heritage. It is the sole surviving institution of 13 major Christian universities that once operated on the Chinese mainland,...

, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and The University of Hong Kong

The University of Hong Kong

The University of Hong Kong is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. Its motto is "Sapientia et Virtus" in Latin, meaning "wisdom and virtue", and "" in Chinese...

). The UGC also selected the HKALE as the benchmark examination rather than HKHLE. The HKHLE came to its end in 1992, 2 years after the introduction of JUPAS.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, and Lingnan University

Lingnan University (Hong Kong)

The Lingnan University is a public liberal arts university in Hong Kong. It was granted full university status on 30 July 1999.The Lingnan University administration believes that it provides students with a quality education distinguished by the best liberal arts tradition from both East and West...

, institutions directly under the UGC which were established after the introduction of JUPAS, participated in the scheme in 1991, 1996, and 1999, respectively.

As being an alternative of students who want to pursue their undergraduate education with a lesser result due to the high competitiveness of JUPAS (see below). All government-funded sub-degree programmes provided by JUPAS member institutes and managed under JUPAS since academic year 2000. In academic year 2006, Open University of Hong Kong

Open University of Hong Kong

The Open University of Hong Kong is a Hong Kong university providing sub-degree, degree and postgraduate courses leading to awards and qualifications principally through a system of open access and distance education....

, which provided self-financed degrees, also participated in the scheme. The Hong Kong Shue Yan Institute was also being offered to participate JUPAS, but they did not do so in order to maintain independency of admissions.
As part of educational reform in Hong Kong

334 Scheme

The 334 Scheme is the new academic structure for senior secondary education and higher education in Hong Kong. This scheme begins starting from the 2009 school year. By 2012, HKDSE will replace HKCEE and HKALE.- Curriculum :...

, the HKALE will come to its end in 2012 (though it will still accept retakers in 2013). However, the UGC decided to keep JUPAS as their member institutions' admission procedure. In academic year 2011, they will start accepting applications for student who taking part in Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education

Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education

The Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education will be the only public exam in the new 3-3-4 education system to be introduced in Hong Kong secondary schools; it will be a replacement of the existing Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination and be the...

(HKDSE).

Benchmark Examinations

Since JUPAS itself is a system, not an admission examination nor process, JUPAS will collect academic results from student for the references of admissions-related personals in member institutions. Theoretically, all recognized international academic examinations involving in the world are considered in admission into JUPAS, but the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination

Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination

(HKALE), and/or the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education

Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education

(HKDSE, launching in academic year 2011) is a must for every student. No applicant can participate in JUPAS without a valid HKALE (HKDSE) results obtained in the same or previous years in which the applicant apply for JUPAS. The HKALE (HKDSE) is considered the most important factor of admission in all programmes in almost all situations other than the Early Admissions Scheme.

Even without being mentioned, before the introduction of HKDSE, the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination

Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination

The Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination was a standardized examination between 1974 and 2011 after most local students’ five-year secondary education, conducted by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority . The examination will be discontinued in 2012...

(HKCEE) is almost a must for every students since almost every student has taken part in HKCEE before HKALE. HKCEE results are usually considered as an important factor in admissions, and usually being a requirement of admission in most cases. Apart from the above examinations, the two International English benchmark examinations, the TOEFL

TOEFL

The Test of English as a Foreign Language, or TOEFL , evaluates the ability of an individual to use and understand English in an academic setting....

and the IELTS

IELTS

IELTS , or 'International English Language Testing System', is an international standardised test of English language proficiency. It is jointly managed by University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations, the British Council and IDP Education Pty Ltd, and was established in 1989.There are two versions of...

, are playing important roles in some situations, through most of the cases it is considered unessential.

Participating Institutes and courses

Currently, JUPAS applicants can apply for government-funded full-time degrees offered by:

City University of Hong Kong
City University of Hong Kong
City University of Hong Kong is a comprehensive research university in Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and became a fully accredited university in 1994. It has achieved fast growth in recent years and received international recognition for its academic achievements...
Hong Kong Baptist University
Hong Kong Baptist University
Hong Kong Baptist University is a publicly-funded tertiary institution with a Christian education heritage. It is the sole surviving institution of 13 major Christian universities that once operated on the Chinese mainland,...
Lingnan University
Lingnan University (Hong Kong)
The Lingnan University is a public liberal arts university in Hong Kong. It was granted full university status on 30 July 1999.The Lingnan University administration believes that it provides students with a quality education distinguished by the best liberal arts tradition from both East and West...
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Institute of Education
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. Its motto is "Sapientia et Virtus" in Latin, meaning "wisdom and virtue", and "" in Chinese...

and/or self-financed full-time degrees offered by:

The Open University of Hong Kong

and/or government-funded sub-degree programmes (higher diplomas or associate degrees) offered by:

City University of Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
The Hong Kong Institute of Education

and/or any full-time programmes involving more than two JUPAS member institutes.

JUPAS applicants do not need to and are not allowed to apply for any undergraduate programmes directly to the member institutions on their own. In such cases, JUPAS applications will always have the first priority and will void all other direct applications automatically. However, applications for programmes from non-JUPAS member institutes (like Shue Yan University or Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education

Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education

The Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education is one of the member institutions of the Vocational Training Council offering vocational education to post secondary students in Hong Kong through its nine campuses located across the territory....

) or programmes that cannot be applied to through JUPAS (even if the course is provided by a JUPAS member institute or community college owned by them) are not affected.

It is noted that non-Form 7 students who are not studying degrees provided by JUPAS may apply for JUPAS (as long as they (will) meet the HKALE requirement), even if they are studying non-degree programmes under JUPAS. Students studying in secondary schools approved by EMB can only apply for the above programmes through JUPAS.

Application process

Applicants applying through JUPAS can select up to 25 choices of any programme offered by the 9 local institutes via the online portal, provided that they satisfied the prerequisites. The application form is sub-divided into different bandings, namely Band A, B, C, D & E. Putting choices in different bands will affect the scoring of the applicants in the JUPAS process, therefore putting a programme higher in their priority list will increase the chance of getting into a programme in most cases. Theoretically, the actual choice order, other than bandings, are not available to the admission related-person before the release of the admission results are released.

In 2011, the number of programme choices will be reduced from 25 to 20 for the students sitting for the HKDSE. Through they are allowed to replace at most of 5 of their programmes after the announcement of HKDSE results.

Selection process

Each and every programme offered under JUPAS will make a "Merit order list" for all its applicants based on their academic performances, interview performances and extracurricular activities. The "Merit order list" and the applicants rank list are then entered into a match-making process. The process uses eliminations so that all applicants will only get into a programme that they preferred most in their application form and which they qualify.

Note that most of the programmes only look into the applicants' academic performance when they create their "Merit order list". In most of the cases both the results of the HKALE and HKCEE are taken into account. Although performance in the HKALE is still the most important admission factor, some particular universities do count 40% or 50% or CE results in calculating student's academic performance rather than the usual 0-20%. Because of the cancellation of fine grades in both the HKCEE and HKALE, the HKCEE becomes a very important factor in deciding whether a student is admitted or not when he/she is close to the cutoff line since it is more difficult to compare student's performance with only 5 (passing) rank per subject.

In addition, some of the programmes weigh particular subjects more than others. For example, many commercial subjects double counts or even triple counts the results of HKALE Use of English and HKCEE English in calculating admission scores.

The first round admission results are traditionally released on the Wednesday before the week that the HKCEE results are announced and the whole admission process proceeds until late August, which may be only one week before some member institutions commence their first semester in their academic year.

Difficulty

Because of the high degree of difficulty of the HKALE and the fixed quota of places in universities in recent years, JUPAS is considered one of the most competitive university application schemes in the world, which media and scholars claim to be only second to the National Higher Education Entrance Examination of China. In 2007, more than 17,000 students met the minimum requirements to enter the degree programmes offered by JUPAS institutes (passing both language subjects, plus 2 AL equivalent subjects in HKALE). However, only about 11,500 applicants were selected to study for a degree at JUPAS institutes in that year, meaning about 35% of the qualified applicants ended up not being offered degree programmes. Moreover, the number of degree programmes offered by JUPAS institutes decreased by 13% between 2002 and 2006 due to many reasons (including the switch from departmental to faculty based admissions), although it rose again slightly in 2007 and 2008 as a result of the addition of the OUHK's programmes.

In comparing the estimated entrance rate between JUPAS and Direct Entry (from sub-degrees), JUPAS still turns out to significantly higher. Since JUPAS is open to students not already in full-time government-funded degree programmes, this has prompted some students studying for sub-degrees to retake certain subjects to improve their chances of getting into government-funded degree programmes.

Sub-systems

Apart from the main selection scheme, JUPAS also offers a few sub-systems and schemes for candidates who may not do well academically, but have proved qualities/needs in other areas.

Sub-system for Applicants with a Disability

Applicants with the following disability may apply through this scheme:

Physical handicapped
Hearing impairment
Visual impairment
Visceral disability
Speech impairment
Autism
Mental illness

The goal of this sub-system is to allow applicants to find out as early as possible the special assistance and facilities institutions could provide to them on their admission. Applicants may receive separate offers through this sub-system.

Sub-system for School Principal's Nominations

Each principal of a local secondary school may nominate up to three students from his/her own school. Those students must have outstanding achievements in non-academic areas such as sports, music, social services, other cultural activities, or have demonstrated leadership abilities. The goal of this scheme is to encourage students to go beyond academics during their secondary studies.

Self Recommendation Scheme

This scheme is for applicants with outstanding achievements in extracurricular activities. Applicants who apply for this scheme in addition to the main scheme will be able to provide a portfolio of extracurricular activities to the institutes he/she applies to, so that those institutes may also consider the applicants' achievements in other areas in addition to their academic achievements. The goal for this scheme is to encourage students to participate in more extracurricular activities during their secondary studies.

Early Admission Scheme

A EAS Scheme was set up between academic year 2002/03 to 2010/11. which targeted at academically-well Secondary 6 student achieved excellent result in the previous HKCEE. They can directly enter University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Chinese University of Hong Kong

The Chinese University of Hong Kong is a research-led university in Hong Kong.CUHK is the only tertiary education institution in Hong Kong with Nobel Prize winners on its faculty, including Chen Ning Yang, James Mirrlees, Robert Alexander Mundell and Charles K. Kao...

or the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is a public university located in Hong Kong. Established in 1991 under Hong Kong Law Chapter 1141 , it is one of the nine universities in Hong Kong.Professor Tony F. Chan is the president of HKUST...

without sitting the HKALE upon meeting certain HKCEE requirements. In every year, roughly about 3-5% of total JUPAS intakes are coming from this scheme.

External links

Official website

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