The Education UK exhibition 2013 held on 26 and 27 January attracted more than 7,000 people over two days at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.   Visitors met with representatives from over 86 institutions across secondary and higher education sectors, including three local providers of UK transnational education. Participating partners included UKBA, UCAS, The Bank of East Asia and IELTS offering advice on visas, banking services and the English test.

Exhibitors reported being generally satisfied with the number and quality of visitors they met and were busy for most of the day. However, the event has inevitably been less crowded than last year, the double cohort year of 2012.

It appears that public confidence is now established that the HKDSE is accepted for entry to UK higher education, although exhibitors reported misunderstandings about grades that qualify for entry to undergraduate study and expectations, sometimes unnecessary, that foundation courses are required.   The British Council yesterday released UCAS data to exhibitors that indicated that in 2012 around 400 HKDSE students were accepted for places in UK UG courses, a similar number as for HKALE. British Council regards this as a good base from which to grow recruitment from local Hong Kong schools, to complement the major sources of students from international schools and those already studying in UK.  UK schools and post-16 sectors remain important as the major starting points for a UK education.
The public seminars attracted an audience of around 2,000, with full house for many sessions.  The event attracted extensive media coverage. It was reported positively in seven newspapers and Digital Broadcast.  These focused on increased Hong Kong acceptances (up 20 per cent) for 2012-13, and interest in UK options for school, college and higher education (some for insurance). Newspapers reported HKDSE students being interested in a wider range of subjects. Concerns that many UK universities do not accept Liberal Studies for admissions were also covered. 

We also used the event to showcase the excellence of science education with new technology - augmented reality images and videos contributed by exhibitors. This was found to be a valuable feature by visitors.

Please download the enclosed full event report for more details.