In the context of the Hong Kong SAR government’s active promotion of the“Study in Hong Kong” brand, Yiu Wah Education Network Limited (Yiu Wah) of Hong Kong announced that, in the next school year, four provinces and cities in the mainland will introduce the“Hong Kong College Entrance Examination”, commonly known as the Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (DSE) course.
According to the Hong Kong Sing Tao Daily, the four schools offering DSE courses are Yiu Chung Foreign Children’s School in Shanghai, Yiu Chung Foreign Children’s school in Qingdao, Yiu Wah International Education School in Guangzhou and Yiu Wah International Education School in Tongxiang, Zhejiang province. Yiu Wah said Hong Kong and other students could use their DSE results to apply to universities in Hong Kong and overseas. In early December, the four schools will organise a briefing session for interested parents and students to learn more about their diploma examination programmes and further studies plans.
The DSE will be taught by teams from Hong Kong, the mainland and overseas. Students will take four core subjects, namely language, English, mathematics and civil and social development, in three years of senior secondary education, the report said, and 2 to 3 elective subjects. They will also provide other learning experiences such as values education, social services, etc. . However, they have not specified the elective subjects to be offered by the four schools. On teacher qualifications, Yiu Wah said that the DSE programme was co-ordinated by Hong Kong teachers with“Front-line education experience” to ensure the quality of the programme and was taught by teams from Hong Kong, the mainland and overseas, they will provide bilingual education in Chinese and English at different levels according to the students’ conditions, “By introducing quality DSE education resources from Hong Kong to the mainland, students can receive high-level DSE education without having to study in Hong Kong”. In addition, teachers familiar with further studies in Hong Kong and the mainland will be arranged to provide career planning and career guidance to students.
According to current regulations, mainland students who wish to apply for the DSE examination can take the examination as“School candidates” for the HKDSE examination approved by the HKEAA, the rest must be registered as“Private candidates”. Applicants must meet at least one of the three criteria, i.e. they have taken the HKDSE or equivalent examination and have attained the age of 19 on 1 January of the year in which they took the HKDSE, and those who have completed, or are pursuing, a non-diploma course equivalent to secondary 6 as recognised by the HKEAA one year before the examination.
The Chief Education Officer and head of curriculum and professional development of Yiu Wah, Yiu Chung, Lui Tsz Tak, said that the curriculum system of the organisation emphasises the all-round development of students and focuses on developing students’ analytical, critical and problem-solving skills, in line with the objectives of the HKDSE examination, and with the organisation’s international teaching team, we believe that it can help students enhance their academic competence, under the influence of this learning environment, students’ comprehensive academic abilities can fully meet the requirements of international universities. The deputy chief executive officer of Yiu Wah in Yiu Chung, Chen Xinsheng, said he was confident that the HKDSE programme would be successful and that the bilingual approach would provide an excellent learning experience for students who chose to take the HKDSE programme.