Committee on Self-financing Post-secondary Education

Welcome to the website of Concourse for Self-financing Post-secondary Education (Concourse in short).

A concourse is a place where pathways meet. The self-financing sector has become a vibrant and dynamic sector providing a diversity of quality post-secondary programmes for students and working adults under the framework of multiple pathways. 

The Government has adopted a two-pronged strategy of promoting the parallel development of publicly-funded and quality self-financing post-secondary sectors, thereby providing more education opportunities and choices for school leavers. 

Upon completion of the Higher Education Review, the University Grants Committee submitted a report titled “Aspirations for the Higher Education System in Hong Kong” in 2010. The Government endorsed the overall strategies and directions recommended in the report and agreed, among other things, to set up an advisory body to oversee the development of the fast-developing self-financing post-secondary education sector in Hong Kong. 

Against this backdrop, the Committee on Self-financing Post-secondary Education (CSPE) was established in April 2012 to advise the Government on the development of the self-financing post-secondary education sector from macro and strategic perspectives. It serves as a platform for discussing issues of common interest to the sector, promoting the quality and development of the sector, as well as formulating and promoting good practices. 

Since its establishment, CSPE has been in direct contact with relevant stakeholders to gain an in-depth understanding of the development and current situation of the sector through various channels, such as visits to institutions and seminars. CSPE notes that, due to different start-up time and other factors, the development of self-financing post-secondary institutions vary. Overall though, with the rapid development of the self-financing post-secondary sector over the past decade or so, more opportunities have been provided for Hong Kong students to receive post-secondary education. The sector has contributed significantly to the current participation rate of 80% in post-secondary education. 

CSPE strives to enhance the transparency of the self-financing post-secondary sector. In this connection, the Concourse website was launched in late 2013 to provide stakeholders and the general public with up-to-date and comprehensive information about the sector, including Government policies; regulatory framework and support measures; institutional information of the operators; qualifications and quality-related matters; work of CSPE; latest development and activities of the sector; information on students and graduates; and relevant statistics and references. The Concourse has also linked up with other relevant websites, such as the Information Portal for Accredited Post-secondary Programmes (iPASS), Electronic Advance Application System for Post-secondary Programmes (E-APP), vocational and professional education and training, Diploma of Applied Education Programme and Qualifications Register, as well as websites of post-secondary institutions and other relevant bodies. 

Mindful of the community’s higher expectations of the quality of self-financing institutions, CSPE promulgated the Code of Good Practices on Governance and Quality Assurance for Self-financing Post-secondary Education Sector (the Code) in June 2015 after conducting a consultancy study and extensive consultation.  The Code covers three major areas in institutional governance; programme design and delivery; and staff, other resources and student support. We believe that the Code will enhance the governance and quality assurance of self-financing institutions, thus increasing the recognition of these operators among the public. 

To implement the recommendation in the review report of the Task Force on Review of Self-financing Post-secondary Education (dated December 2018), CSPE was revamped with the new composition and functions with effect from November 2019, to provide strategic and policy advice on the development of the self-financing sector, including advice on measures to promote, facilitate and coordinate such development in terms of scope of operation, quality and governance.

The CSPE will continue to actively engage stakeholders and offer counsel to the Government on key issues relating to the self-financing post-secondary education sector in a bid to foster its healthy and sustainable development and its ability to serve future community needs.