UCAS - UCAS accepts Hong Kong Diploma onto Tariff

UCAS accepts Hong Kong Diploma onto Tariff

UCAS today announced the addition of the Hong Kong Diploma* onto the Tariff, establishing it as a recognised and measurable route into UK higher education for thousands of international students.

The Tariff, which benchmarks qualifications against the UK's A level in order to assess their suitability for higher education, currently recognises 40 different qualification types. The system allocates points to qualifications used for entry to higher education. This allows students to use a range of different qualifications to help secure a place on an undergraduate course.

Universities and colleges use the UCAS Tariff within their entry requirements in order to make comparisons between applicants with different qualifications. It is however only one of the methods used by institutions in their selection process.

Mary Curnock Cook, UCAS Chief Executive said: 'Worldwide there is a wide range of qualifications that equip applicants for study at our higher education institutions. The acceptance of the Hong Kong Diploma onto the scheme now provides admissions tutors across the UK with a robust method of assessing the suitability of a candidate who has studied these qualifications for a course at their institution. It makes the whole process of applying and decision making far more transparent and supports UCAS' strategy to assist international students in their application through the UCAS system.'

Mary continues: 'The UCAS Board, who assess and make final decisions on the recommendations made by the Tariff Expert Group, represent some of the leading figures in higher education in the UK. Their involvement in the process highlights the importance the UK higher education sector places on widening the routes to study in this way.'

For more information on the UCAS Tariff, visit www.ucas.ac.uk/students/ucas_tariff.

Media contacts

Charlotte Knowles and Darren Barker
Telephone: +441242 544987 or +441242 545723
Email: communications@ucas.ac.uk
Out of hours: +447768 740 461

Notes to editors

* The Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education is a three-year senior secondary academic structure which commenced in September 2009. The first candidates sitting the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) will complete in 2012.

Candidates take four core subjects (Chinese Language, English Language, Mathematics and Liberal Studies), plus two or three elective subjects. Given that the Diploma is ungraded, UCAS Tariff points are awarded to each individual component.

Each component of the overarching Diploma is graded from 5** to 1, with U being unclassified. For the purposes of the allocation of Tariff points, only grades 5**, 5*, 5, 4 and 3 are considered as appropriate levels of attainment for supporting progression to UK higher education.

The agreed UCAS Tariff points for these grades are as follows:

Grade	Tariff points
Grade	All subjects except Mathematics	Mathematics compulsory component	Mathematics optional components
5**	No value pending receipt of candidate evidence (post 2012)
5*	130	60	70
5	120	45	60
4	80	35	50
3	40	25	40

About UCAS

UCAS is a charity and is the world's leading shared admissions service for higher education. We manage applications for full-time undergraduate courses, together with applications through GTTR (Graduate Teacher Training Registry), CUKAS (Conservatoires UK Admissions Service) and UKPASS (UK Postgraduate Application and Statistical Service).

Since its inception in 1994, UCAS has processed around 30 million applications and placed over 5 million students on higher education courses.

Services include:

an informative website (www.ucas.com) enabling students and parents to access a wealth of information designed to help their application to higher education run smoothly
a state-of-the-art contact centre (0871 468 0468) providing a point of contact for students, schools and higher education institutions
an online application system
a simple, straightforward tracking service enabling students and schools advisors to access up-to-date information about their applications at the click of a button
over 50 higher education events each year providing 250,000 students with face-to-face advice on the UCAS process. Internationally, we participated in events in over 12 countries and also provided training and professional development throughout Europe and beyond.

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