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William Yiu

Students sitting Hong Kong’s university entrance exam in mainland China next year will pay a registration fee of HK$8,000 (US$1,020), a 220 per cent increase from the current HK$2,500 as a pilot scheme has ended.
The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) announced the fee adjustments for various exams on Friday, adding that local students would face a 4 per cent increase to sit each subject, with charges ranging from HK$540 to HK$808.
The authority said the substantial surge in the registration charge, also known as the initial fee, for students sitting the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) on the mainland was because a three-year pilot scheme had ended.
“With the completion of the pilot scheme, it will no longer be sustainable for the HKEAA to continue providing subsidies on a regular basis,” it said.
“The HKEAA will make an appropriate adjustment to the initial fee (mainland examination centre) for the 2027 HKDSE to support the sustainable and effective operation of these centres.”
Under the scheme, exam centres were set up on the mainland to allow eligible Hong Kong candidates to sit the HKDSE remotely from 2024.
The operational cost of the centres covered exam security arrangements, additional equipment, personnel deployment, and the delivery and secure storage of question papers, answer scripts and examination materials.
The authority set aside dedicated funding from its operating budget at the time to subsidise some of the related expenses, but said that in future it aimed to achieve a balance between income and expenditure.
This year, about 480 students from four institutions for Hong Kong children used the exam centres on the mainland, sitting the HKDSE as school candidates.

For local students, the authority said the 4 per cent increase in examination fees was “a rate of increase broadly in line with previous years”.
With the increase, a candidate holding a Hong Kong permanent identity card and taking six subjects – comprising two language subjects and four other subjects – will pay a total examination fee of HK$3,776, up from HK$3,630 last year.
Separately, first-time HKDSE candidates aged under 19 who choose to take the exams as private candidates must sign up through a route called “special entry”. Around 3,000 candidates, mostly from the mainland, signed up for the HKDSE via this route last year.
The authority raised the application fee for this route by 25 per cent, from HK$2,000 to HK$2,500.
Students without a Hong Kong permanent identity card will also have to pay more for each subject exam they sit.
For language subjects, the fee will stand at HK$2,058, jumping by around 50 per cent from this year’s charge. Fees for other subjects will rise by 60 per cent, with each costing HK$1,790.
The new exam fees were published in the government gazette on Friday.


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Hong Kong exam body says fee increase will support ‘sustainable and effective operation’ as three-year pilot scheme ends


Hong Kong exam body says fee increase will support ‘sustainable and effective operation’ as three-year pilot scheme ends.


China

HKDSE - Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education

Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority

HKDSE exam takers in mainland China face 220% jump in registration fee to HK$8,000

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Hong Kong exam body says fee increase will support ‘sustainable and effective operation’ as three-year pilot scheme ends

Hong Kong exam body says fee increase will support ‘sustainable and effective operation’ as three-year pilot scheme ends