📋 Tender Overview
The Education Bureau EDB today July 4 announced the completion of the selection process for the fourth cohort of the School Nominations Direct Admission Scheme SNDAS
A total of 814 valid SNDAS nominations were received from 420 secondary schools for the fourth cohort In the past few months the eight University Grants Committee UGCfunded universities participating in the Scheme arranged interviews for the nominated students and carefully considered their individual merits Firm offers were eventually made to 342 nominees prior to the release of the 2025 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education HKDSE Examination results of which 335 have accepted the offers and will commence study on their chosen UGCfunded undergraduate programmes in September 2025 in a wide spectrum of disciplines including architecture surveying and town planning arts and humanities business computing and engineering environmental studies design fine arts language law medicine and health music sciences and social sciences A breakdown by study discipline is provided in the Annex
The Secretary for Education Dr Choi Yuklin was pleased to note the encouraging results of the fourth cohort of the SNDAS in particular the continuing increase in the number of offers made to successful nominees
Talent in diversified skills and knowledge is the key to Hong Kongs future development The Government has always placed great emphasis on nurturing young people striving to enhance the education system and creating diverse opportunities for students to reach their full potential in different areas I am deeply grateful for the support from secondary schools and universities for the SNDAS as well as their recognition of students multifaceted talents and for cultivating more future talent for Hong Kong Dr Choi said
To promote a culture of multifaceted excellence the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau has launched the Multitalent Development Scholarship MDS in the 202526 academic year funded by the Board of Management of the Chinese Permanent Cemeteries for admittees of the SNDAS demonstrating outstanding achievements in arts sports andor community service on top of the firm offers made under the SNDAS
Among the students being formally admitted to their respective universities under the SNDAS each of the eight UGCfunded universities will be invited to nominate SNDAS admittees demonstrating an outstanding performance in arts sports andor community service for awarding scholarships in addition to the firm offers made The quotas of scholarship nominations will be distributed proportionally having regard to the number of students admitted to each university by the SNDAS Each awardee not subject to means testing will be granted a scholarship of 10000 per year across hisher fouryear tuition period Universities shall enjoy the autonomy to select and nominate awardees for the MDS
The fifth cohort of the SNDAS will be open for applications by Secondary Six students taking the 2026 HKDSE Examinations and commencing their undergraduate studies in September 2026 Details of the application arrangements will be announced in due course
The SNDAS was introduced in 2021 as part of EDBs response to the recommendations made by the Task Force on Review of School Curriculum which included enhancing flexibility in university admissions The eight UGCfunded universities had designated around 300 publicly funded undergraduate programmes for the fourth cohort of the SNDAS and set admission criteria that are not based on HKDSE Examination results for individual programmes
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