The 4-year university curriculum will commence in 2012. JUPAS has been working closely with its participating-institutions, the Education Bureau (EDB), secondary schools and other related bodies to prepare for a smooth transition into this new phase of education reform.

To ensure a successful transition, the process will be progressive, in that most of the basic features of JUPAS such as the iteration process (matching applicants' choice of programmes with their position on the merit order lists of these programmes by the system) will remain unchanged. The changes that will be made along with the 334 initially will be as follows:

As an increasing number of study programmes are grouped under faculty-based admission, the number of programmes for JUPAS admission will become less.  Additionally, an earlier survey conducted by JUPAS on 334 indicated that many school principals, teachers and students considered that the number of programme choices could be reduced to 20.  To respond to this, programme choices available under 334 will be reduced from the current 25 to 20.  After the announcement of HKDSE results, students will still have the flexibility to replace up to 5 programmes on their selection lists with new programmes, such that the number of their final programme choices will be kept at 20.

Following from the new number of programme choices available to students, a new banding structure has been developed:

Under the 334, "Other Learning Experiences" (OLE) is a key feature for fostering a 'whole-person development', and will be one of the factors in addition to achievements at HKDSE which the institutions will consider.  To support such an objective, JUPAS has designed a template, in consultation with school councils and principals, to aid students in the submission of information pertaining to their OLE and other achievements along with their applications.  Such information, which is expected to be based on individual Student Learning Profile (SLP), can be submitted to the JUPAS Office through an electronic interface via schools.  (The submission of the actual SLP to JUPAS is however optional.  Students who wish to submit their portfolios to individual programmes may do so as and when they are invited for interviews.)

For additional information on OLE, you may wish to refer to the press release which was issued in October 2009.

New JUPAS computer system

The new curriculum structure will greatly increase the number of school applicants applying to universities, especially in the year 2012 when two cohorts of applicants (those following the old and new secondary education structures) will apply for admission to universities.  To accommodate this anticipated vast increase in the number of applications and at the same time ensure the smooth processing of applications, a new JUPAS computer system is being designed and developed by JUPAS with the help of IBM.  The system will have the capacity to process massive data and will be designed to provide substantial flexibility to its users and to process a large number of applications in a highly efficient manner.  The new system will be thoroughly tested by JUPAS and IBM well before its launch in phases from September 2010 to September 2011.

With the new computer system, a new JUPAS website will be designed and developed for 334, while the web address will remain to be http://www.jupas.edu.hk.  In addition to a new appearance, enhancements to the following features will be made:

Over the past years, much of JUPAS information and many activities, such as the selection of programme choices, have increasingly been conducted on the website.  With a new computer system and the enhanced website, JUPAS will become a truly paperless and environmentally-friendly processing system.  In an effort to protect the environment and save more paper yearly, JUPAS will cease to publish the paper version of the annual JUPAS Guide after its last issue for the 3-year cohort in 2010 (for the 2011 cycle), and all information and activities in the JUPAS cycle year will be consolidated on JUPAS's and its participating-institutions' websites.  For the same considerations explained at above, JUPAS will not publish paper version of JUPAS Guide for the 4-year cohort.

The JUPAS Office has been using the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) to answer basic enquiries from schools and applicants for many years.  Under 334, this system will be upgraded.  The objectives of the new system are to offer a smoother call-flow, a larger capacity to handle more calls and, most importantly, to provide useful information and assistance to schools, applicants and the public on the 334.  A new 24-hour dedicated hotline number for 334 enquiries ((852) 2334 2330) that can be easily remembered will be used as from September 2011.  The current IVRS hotline number for the 'old' academic structure (i.e. (852) 2803 2200) will continue to be used and is planned to be phased out as from September 2012.