HKEAA has been working closely with international agencies, overseas universities and colleges to promote recognition of HKEAA examinations.

The Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) is administered for the first time in 2012. The HKEAA has been working closely with international bodies, including Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), National Recognition Information Centre (NARIC), Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) in the UK and the Australian Education International (AEI) in Australia, to secure recognition of the HKDSE. Positive comments on the aims and design of the New Senior Secondary (NSS) curriculum and the HKDSE have been received. More details could be found at Recognition of Qualification and Benchmarking Studies on International Examinations.

In order to understand the general admission requirements of overseas universities/ institutions for HKDSE holders, a survey has been conducted by the HKEAA and the Education Bureau since June 2010 for the higher education institutions in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States etc. Currently, more than 120 tertiary institutions worldwide have indicated their acceptance of students with HKDSE qualification and provided information of the relevant admission requirements.

Besides, the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China announced in November 2011 that HKDSE holders will be exempted from taking the Joint Entrance Examination for Universities in the Mainland when applying to 63 higher education institutions. University Entrance Committee for Overseas Chinese Student (UECOCS) of Taiwan has also announced that from 2012 onwards, the HKDSE holders can apply the Taiwan universities through UECOCS directly. More details could be found at Recognition of Qualification.

Standards of performance in the HKCEE and HKALE have for many years been benchmarked against standards in comparable subjects at British GCE O-Level and A/AS-Level. In the case of performance in English Language, research studies have been conducted to link standards of performance in HKCEE English Language (Syllabus B) and HKALE Use of English to standards in IELTS and TOEFL. And starting from 2007 HKCEE Standards-referenced Reporting was adopted in Chinese language and English language subjects. The results in the two subjects have also been benchmarked against International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) results. More details could be found at Benchmarking Studies on International Examinations.

Remarks:

Although HKEAA examinations have been widely accepted, some universities have set particular criteria for admission of overseas students. For instance, Cambridge University in the UK has set out admission requirements for under-age or minor candidates concerning guardianship arrangements.

In cases where candidates wish to further their studies abroad, they may be required to take as one of the basic requirements certain unified examinations conducted by the examination authorities of that particular country. These include, for example, the SAT for the United States.