Early Admission Scheme (EAS) is a scheme started two years ago (2001) in Hong Kong. It aimed at keeping talented students in Hong Kong instead of going abroad to study. Students who got 6 As or above in Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) can be admitted to universities in Hong Kong without finishing F.7 education and Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE). Other students have to go through the A-Level Examinations in order to get into universities, and seats in universities will be allocated to them through the Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS), a scheme designed for students to apply for admission to full-time or sandwich bachelor's degree programmes offered by the 8 participating institutions in Hong Kong and to full-time or sandwich associate degree or higher diploma programmes offered by City University of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Currently, there are 3 universities participating in EAS, they are the Hong Kong University (HKU), Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).
After the implementation of EAS, there has been many opinions being raised about this scheme, but most of them are criticisms.
The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority assumes that all EAS students would get straight "A"s in their A-Level Examination if they took part in it. Samantha Ng, a F.7 student from Maryknoll Convent School, said, "Assuming all EAS students would get straight 'A's in A-Level will directly pull up the whole curve of the A-Level results." It makes it more difficult for A-Level candidates to get high grades, because many "A"s are distributed to EAS applicants.
EAS students have taken up a lot of places in universities, especially in popular programmes such as Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree programme of the HKU and Global Business degree programme of HKUST. Sandra from Social Sciences in HKU suggested that EAS would bring a continuous down effect on JUPAS. It is because the high graded F.7 students may have to enter their second choices as seats in their favourite programmes may already be occupied by EAS students.
HKCEE is not a good criterion for university admission. Since HKCEE puts less emphasis on analytical skills when compared with HKALE, students who have excellent HKCEE results may not suit university life. Professor Cheng Kai Ming, the Chair Professor of the Faculty of Education of HKU agreed that the scheme does have its drawback. “It only accounts on the HKCEE result. Actually, it is difficult for a teacher to tell whether a student getting 6As with excellent performance in activities or a student getting 10As is better.” Both teachers and students agree that the scheme will be a blow to their morale. For teachers, the most brilliant students have left the schools; for JUPAS students, they will feel inferior.
Procedures for applying EAS are in a hurry. There was only two weeks’ time for application after the announcement of the requirement of EAS. As a result, applicants did not have enough time for thorough consideration, and some of them made wrong choices. However, once they had realized that, they were unable to change programme or to study abroad as they do not have an A-Level certificate.
There is also a phenomenon that participating universities are now competing among each other for EAS students by using scholarships as attractions, this brought about criticisms of the public. Despite the above criticisms, Professor Cheng Kai Ming, the Chair Professor of the Faculty of Education of HKU, said, “It (EAS) is like a baby learning to walk. Usually a baby learns to walk at 9 months, if a baby learns to walk at 7 months, everybody will praise the it as an outstanding one – but actually it makes no differences when it grows up, it doesn’t signify that the baby that learns to walk earlier can be a good runner later on, it is the same case for EAS students.”
Still, EAS has achieved some of its goals and has its good sides. It succeeded in keeping local students from going abroad. Jennifer Wong, an EAS student of UST said that she had considered going to Australia, but as there was EAS which suited her, she decided to stay in Hong Kong. Another EAS student in UST, Salina Mak, said, “After I was guaranteed to have a seat in university, I put aside my consideration of studying abroad. Even if I wanted to go to study abroad, I was not guaranteed a degree place. Besides, EAS can help eligible students to save one year's time. Professor Cheng said, “If a student has the capacity to receive university education, he should not be kept in secondary school. It is good at the point of education.” What should be done for EAS in face of so many criticisms? The criteria of the scheme should not be further lowered, in order to give a clear idea to F.7 students on how many EAS students will be admitted. Denise Li from HKU suggested, “The criteria should not be too low; it should be at least 8As."
There should be a more thorough interview. Eric Fong, an EAS BBA (law) student, said, "Attention should be paid on the applicant’s ability for the programme, and their participation in extra-curricular activities." Also, it has been found that if quotas are set reasonably, most people are willing to accept the scheme.
On November 28, 2003, Professor Paul Ching-Wu Chu, the President of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said, “The scheme will continue to run in 2004 and quota will be set in admitting students”. Professor Lap-Chee Tsui, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, said, “Vice-Chancellors from the eight institutions have agreed that the minimum requirement should be maintained as 6 As”. Nevertheless, final decision and detailed arrangements for the requirements and quota for each degree programme are to be announced by the University Grants Committee in 2004 January. If the government would like to run the scheme smoothly, much more work should be done, on consulting the public, on research, and on improving the scheme. Otherwise, it would turn out to be an educational embarrassment, or even a disaster.