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This year is destined to be an extraordinary one for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (DSE). At the start of the year, Legislative Council member Tang Fei suddenly raised an oral question with Acting Secretary for Education, Shi Junhui, during a meeting, regarding the lack of 77 overseas institutions recognizing the DSE on the Examinations and Assessment Authority's website.
The Examinations and Assessment Authority (EEA) had originally decided not to hold examination venues in mainland China this year, but for some reason, the decision suddenly changed. In June, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against VIPA Financial Security (Hong Kong), a company that provided gold escort services to Russia. This company was responsible for escorting examination papers to mainland China for the Examinations and Assessment Authority this year. Following the sanctions, the company's website suddenly disappeared, raising questions about who would escort examination papers to mainland China in the future.
DSE listed as an unregulated international exam prompts Hong Kong tutorial centres to expand northwards
The previous section covered the DSE's mainland market. The latest development came in an October 15th episode of TVB's "Current Affairs: A Multifaceted View," titled "A Future for Tuition Centres?" The episode contained a wealth of information, prompting serious thought: Will the HKDSE one day become the CNDSE?
First, the series points out that the expansion of Hong Kong cram schools northward is inevitable. In an interview with Zun Li School founder Leung Ho-kei, the series explains that the Hong Kong market "has long reached its 'ceiling,' with supply and demand nearly equal, so mainland China has become a different market." The series also interviewed two recent students who switched from the Gaokao (National College Entrance Examination) to the DSE, one of whom is a Zun Li student.
The two DSE graduates interviewed revealed worrying situations. Both switched to the DSE in Form 6 (known as "senior year" in mainland China). One completed the course, which takes Hong Kong students three years, in one year, while the other took just eight months. They both achieved excellent results and were admitted to their chosen universities in Hong Kong.
The DSE, considered a major hurdle for Hong Kong students, seemed like a piece of cake to these two students. Both majoring in science, they felt that math and science in the DSE were "much easier" than in mainland China, though English required more effort. One of the interviewees said, "The competition for the mainland gaokao is incredibly fierce, with hundreds of thousands of candidates in Guangdong Province alone." Now, competing against only tens of thousands of Hong Kong students, the pressure has been significantly reduced.
