How to help more of Hong Kong’s non-Chinese-speaking students reach university

Veteran educators who teach such pupils, classified by the government as NCS students, attributed the trend to three main factors: high failure rates in core mathematics; deficiencies in Chinese-language studies; and a lack of performance targets by schools despite heavy public funding.

According to data from the Education Bureau and the University Grants Committee, the proportion of NCS students sitting the DSE who secured government-funded undergraduate places averaged around 10 per cent annually for the past five academic years.

In the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years, the NCS student admission rate stood at 8.8 per cent and 8.9 per cent, respectively.

It later increased to 12.2 per cent in 2022-23, but dropped to 11.6 per cent a year later and declined to 10.5 per cent in 2024-25.