President Mak attended the TV programme "Sunday Whiz", broadcasted by i-CABLE Finance Info Channel on 11 November 2018, where he spoke about whether private university can enhance the quality of higher education. He observed that only a small group of local students was admitted to universities in the past due to shortage of university places. "The situation of unmet demand for university places has first started improving in these few years," said Dr Mak.
He pointed out that developing towards a knowledge-based economy, Hong Kong still faces lack of professionals in different areas such as nursing and social services. He added that some youngsters may not be able to study the subject that they are interested in when going to university. Dr Mak found that the public still has the misperception that the quality of self-financing institutions is lower. "However, in fact, the current approval threshold is high, and institutions have to meet criteria in line with international standards," he stressed.
Dr Mak also revealed that the current progress of becoming a private university is satisfactory. For example, the Institute has fulfilled the requirement of student enrolment number as stipulated. He cannot provide a specific time frame for acquiring a university title, but he will continue to enhance the quality of the Institute and consider the whole progress as the pursuit of self-improvement.
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