Selection completed for fourth cohort of School Nominations Direct Admission Scheme
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 (UGC)-funded 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 UGC-funded 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 Yuk-lin, 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 Kong's 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 Multi-talent Development Scholarship (MDS) in the 2025/26 academic year, funded by the Board of Management of the Chinese Permanent Cemeteries, for admittees of the SNDAS demonstrating outstanding achievements in arts, sports and/or 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 UGC-funded universities will be invited to nominate SNDAS admittees demonstrating an outstanding performance in arts, sports and/or 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 $10,000 per year across his/her four-year 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 EDB's response to the recommendations made by the Task Force on Review of School Curriculum, which included enhancing flexibility in university admissions. The eight UGC-funded 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.
Opening remarks by SITI at "CUHK and MicroSigX partner to launch breakthrough test aiding early autism diagnosis"
Following are the opening remarks by the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong, at the "CUHK and MicroSigX partner to launch breakthrough test aiding early autism diagnosis" today (December 17):
Professor Chan (Choh-Ming Li Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics of thethe Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Professor Francis Chan), Professor Ng (Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Croucher Professor of Medical Sciences, Professor Siew Ng), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning. I am pleased to join the Faculty of Medicine of CUHK (Chinese University of Hong Kong) at the launch of its groundbreaking innovation in early detection of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Congratulations to CUHK Faculty of Medicine and MicroSigX on your achievements, which once again exemplify the fruitful outcomes of our collaborative efforts in innovation and technology (I&T).
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is firmly committed to developing Hong Kong into an international I&T centre. This vision builds on our flourishing life and health technology research, underpinned by the close collaboration among the Government, industry, academia, and research sectors. We have been channeling more funding support into our universities for commercialising their research and development (R&D) outcomes through various initiatives such as the Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme launched in 2023. The Scheme has been well received by universities as well as the industry sector. Since its inception, a total of 49 projects were supported in the first two rounds, covering various technological fields including health and medical sciences, new materials and new energy, artificial intelligence and robotics, etc, with the total funding amounting to over $2 billion.
Another major I&T initiative of the Government to develop Hong Kong into an international I&T centre is the InnoHK Research Clusters. InnoHK leverages Hong Kong's advantages as an international city to promote global I&T co-operation and bring together leading researchers from around the world to conduct R&D in collaboration with local universities. The Government has encouraged the research centres under InnoHK to further increase the adoption rate of R&D projects, promote recognition in the industry and accelerate technology transfer and commercialisation of R&D outcomes. It is worth noting that MicroSigX's technology is in part underpinned by the research conducted at Microbiota I-Center, a research centre established under InnoHK. We are happy to see that our research centres under InnoHK are turning upstream R&D into real application and products in the market.
Today's pilot initiative not only marks a milestone in commercialisation of research and development outcomes, but also benefits the underprivileged local families by providing free tests to those in need with the assistance of non-governmental organisations. This is exactly our ultimate goal in promoting I&T: harnessing technological breakthroughs to benefit our society as a whole. We genuinely hope that advances in technology will bring meaningful benefits for society at large and improve people's quality of life.
The Government will continue to provide robust policy and support to enhance the overall I&T ecosystem in Hong Kong and develop Hong Kong into an international I&T centre. Let us work hand in hand to realise this vision. Thank you.
Source: AI-found images
Opening remarks by SITI at "CUHK and MicroSigX partner to launch breakthrough test aiding early autism diagnosis" Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Source: AI-found images
