Hong Kong universities upgrade offers for 63% of students seeking reconsideration after exam review

Nearly two-thirds of Hong Kong students who asked universities to reconsider their placements after Diploma of Secondary Education exam results were reviewed have secured improved outcomes, according to the city's centralised admissions body.

The Joint University Programmes Admissions System (Jupas) office received 453 reconsideration requests this year following the review of university entrance exam results. Of these, 287 applicants—or 63.4 per cent—will receive a university admissions offer or better offers than their initial allocation, up from 58.6 per cent a year earlier.

Highest success rate in six years

Thursday's results marked the highest reconsideration success rate since 2018, when 65.4 per cent of applicants received an improvement in their allocations. The figures suggest a growing proportion of students who challenge their initial placements are successfully securing spots closer to their preferences.

Among the 453 requests received this year, 204 applicants who already held main-round offers will receive a "better" degree offer following the reconsideration. Another 83 applicants who had not received any offer initially will now secure university places.

The reconsideration mechanism allows students whose DSE results improve on review—typically due to successful mark appeals—to ask Jupas to reassess their university allocations based on the revised grades. The rising success rate indicates that institutions are accommodating a larger share of these late-stage adjustments, potentially reflecting both improved exam scores and available capacity within programmes.

Source: South China Morning Post