The Education & Manpower Bureau has always valued the opinions of the public and the education sector in formulating and implementing education policies.

This was the bureau's response today to an open letter from a group of higher education staff, clarifying the Government's position on a number of issues raised by the group.

It said most of the recent and major initiatives proposed for the higher education sector arise from the Higher Education Review concluded last year.

The University Grants Committee has conducted a four-month public consultation on the initial recommendations, and considered views expressed in 130 written submissions before finalising its recommendations to the Government.

The review has also been discussed at the Legislative Council's Panel on Education on a number of occasions, and deputations from the tertiary education sector have been invited to offer their views.

In line with the spirit of triennium funding, tertiary institutions are not required, like most other subvented organisations, to achieve efficiency savings in 2003-04.

The Government understands the difficulties faced by the higher education sector, and has established a $1 billion fund to match private donations secured by the institutions.

The expected efficiency savings from the sector in 2004-05 will be around $1.1 billion, but the matching grant scheme offers the sector resources totalling $2 billion. This will, to a certain extent, more than absorb the impact of the reduction.

There is a general consensus that Hong Kong should move towards a three-year senior secondary education structure, and correspondingly a four-year undergraduate programme. Different proposals have been put forward to help catalyse the changes.

The Government has been liaising with the secondary and tertiary education sectors to hear their views and map out the way forward.

The Government supports the possible integration of the Chinese University and the University of Science & Technology, and fully respects the institutional autonomy of universities.

The proposed integration is not meant to be a cost-saving measure, but rather an initiative to upgrade the quality of our universities.

The two universities have completed their initial studies on the desirability and feasibility of integration. Both recognised the potential benefits and highlighted areas that require further deliberation.

The administration has invited the committee to examine in greater detail the potential benefits, financial and staff implications of the proposed integration, to discuss with the institutions concerned, and to make recommendations on the way forward.