One of the key proposals of the Government’s education reform was to encourage public institutions to get additional resources from fees and donations. In the new millennium, post-graduate programmes in the publicly-funded institutions had to be run on a user-pay basis and compete in a deregulated market. In addition, their continuing education arms expanded in size and provision, further enriching the offerings already delivered off-shore by overseas institutions through local agents and partners. While learners benefited from the opportunities, demand no longer concentrated on the OUHK. Conscious of this change, the University decisively adjusted its courses, and geared up for the new challenges.

The OUHK has a distinctive advantage in its modular programme structure embedded in a credit accumulation and transfer system. Meticulously developed and extensively applied over the years, the mature system fits the Government’s suggestion for a common credit units system across institutions. Graduates of associate degrees and diplomas would be able to conveniently count their credits and articulate their qualifications towards completing a degree at the OUHK. Over time, the system evolved to become an efficient bridge between the University’s programmes and the Qualification Framework which was launched in 2008, and it exemplified the connection of various components of the entire higher education system in Hong Kong.

教育改革的另一方向，是減少依賴公帑，在大專界引入商業文化，以增強市場導向的方法開拓新領域。八大院校開設的修課式碩士課程原獲大學教育撥款委員會資助，從此改為用者自付，附屬的持續進修學部亦相繼轉型，大力擴展及興辦各式各樣的校外進修課程，以爭取收入，加上數百間外國院校通過代理和遙距方式提供大學課程，兼讀課程百花齊放。之後數年，大學撥款委員會一再放寬對公立院校的規管，並削減恆常資助，激勵各校加強商業導向經營，市場競爭轉趨激烈。求學人士則選擇大增，受益不淺。此消彼長之下，公開大學預料成人和在職人士的進修需求不再集中於本校，校方實需掌握時代脈搏調整步伐，重訂優次，發揮潛能，以迎接新環境的機遇和挑戰 。

公開大學靈活簡明的學分制，最能發揮既有優勢。校方在創校初期，已善用組件式科目建構大學課程，為學生提供彈性選修和多層學歷進出的機制，並且歷年在處理學分累積、承認和轉移實務上庫存大量參考案例，無論遙距或面授、兼讀或全日制課程，學生都能以在本港或外地完成的學分，順利配對適當入讀的程度等級，清晰計算完成目標學歷所需的餘下學分和時間，十分符合政策當局發展一套院校之間共用互通學分制度的目標。公開大學深信其學分制發展已臻成熟，非常有利於吸納完成文憑和副學士及先修課程的學生，為他們提供銜接課程的橋樑，從而得償取得學位的願望。2008年，政府推行資歷架構，公開大學所有學分課程獲審批接納，成為分工精細、脈絡相連、梯階完備的全港專上教育體系的重要組成部分。

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