CUHK
News Centre

Rapid globalisation has spurred growing competition among all parts of the world. In addition, the recent “financial tsunami” has triggered a global financial turmoil and propelled corporations to reduce expenses by cutting pay and laying off employees. Together, they put much pressure on the job market. The community is concerned about the intense competition Hong Kong youth have to face in their career. So, how competitive are Hong Kong teenagers when compared to their counterparts in Shanghai, Taiwan and Singapore?

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) assesses how well the youth are equipped to meet the challenges of our society. PISA takes place every three years and the assessment of Hong Kong students is conducted by HKPISA Centre, Hong Kong Institute of Educational Research, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). In the past three cycles, Hong Kong students’ performance has been very satisfactory. In the previous cycle, PISA 2006, Hong Kong ranked within the top 3 positions in all three literacy domains, namely, reading, mathematics and science. The coming cycle of PISA will take place this year with the number of participating countries / regions increased to 70. Besides Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Shanghai will be a new member of PISA among the Chinese communities, and Singapore will take part too. With these competitive participants joining, will Hong Kong students stay at the top?

PISA 2009 will take place in April through May in Hong Kong. According to OECD’s (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) international sampling standard, 150 schools are to be sampled from different types of schools to represent Hong Kong in PISA. Thirty-five 15-year-old students from each participating school will take part in the assessment. Each participating school will receive a report showing how well its students have performed in comparison with other local students. HKPISA Centre has also set up an online database for PISA schools of all previous cycles, where schools can conveniently retrieve PISA data and analysis of their own students. This will serve as a long term resource for schools in decision making and self-evaluation.

Over 140 schools have registered to participate in PISA 2009. HKPISA Centre is now inviting more schools to join so that the assessment results for Hong Kong will be more comprehensive and representative. For more details about PISA, please contact HKPISA Centre, CUHK (Tel: 2603 7209; E-mail: hkpisa@fed.cuhk.edu.hk).