School Competition in Hong Kong: A Battle of Lifting School Academic Performance?

• In Event: 34.095 - MTCC Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: 34.095-7 - International Perspectives on School Choice and Market Reform

Abstract

This study investigates the validity of school competition in Hong Kong. It tests the relationships between student intake and school academic performance and school marketing practices. It also compares the pattern of the relationships between the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) and aided secondary schools. Secondary data from 441 secondary schools were retrieved from a secondary school admission magazine and the schools’ websites. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the school’s academic performance was positively related to discretionary student intake. Marketing school academic performance, but not marketing school features, was positively related to student intake. Lastly, marketing school academic performance intensified the relationship between the school’s academic performance and student intake in aided schools but not in DSS schools.

Authors

• Ho Chun Sing, Maxwell, The Education University of Hong Kong

• Lu Jiafang, The Education University of Hong Kong