School Nominations Direct Admission Scheme (SNDAS): An Elite Admissions Pathway That Bypasses the HKDSE

Module: 02 Admissions · Sub-file: School Nominations Direct Admission Scheme (SNDAS) Last updated: 2026-06-20 This article focuses on The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK, Sha Tin campus) and does not cover The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. All figures relating to student numbers and programme counts cite their annual sources. Scheme rules are updated annually; refer to the latest official announcements by the Education Bureau and CUHK.

In a nutshell: The School Nominations Direct Admission Scheme (SNDAS)^※ was launched by the Education Bureau (EDB) in the 2022/23 academic year. It allows secondary school principals to nominate up to two Secondary 6 students per year who have demonstrated outstanding talent in specific disciplines to apply directly for UGC-funded undergraduate programmes at the eight publicly funded universities in Hong Kong. For the 2026/27 academic year, CUHK is participating with a total of 63 designated programmes. Students must decide whether to accept an offer before the release of HKDSE results — bypassing entirely the JUPAS score-competition mechanism, which uses public examination results as its primary yardstick.

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# What is SNDAS, and how does it fundamentally differ from JUPAS?

SNDAS (School Nominations Direct Admission Scheme)^※ was proposed by the EDB's Task Force on Review of School Curriculum and is positioned as a specialised "programme-to-student matching" admissions channel, designed to identify secondary students whose "talents may not be fully assessed by the HKDSE public examination." Compared with the mainstream JUPAS route, SNDAS differs in three fundamental ways:

According to the EDB's official SNDAS information^※, the scheme was first implemented in the 2022/23 academic year as a formal institutional channel (not a pilot), with all eight UGC-funded universities participating.

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# How does CUHK participate in SNDAS? Who is eligible to be nominated?

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has participated in SNDAS since its inaugural year. According to the EDB's list of designated programmes for the 2026/27 academic year^※, CUHK has opened 63 undergraduate programmes for nomination this academic year, spanning all major faculties including Arts, Business, Engineering, Medicine, Science, Education, and Social Science — making it one of the universities with a larger number of programmes participating in SNDAS.

# Selected CUHK Designated Programmes under SNDAS (2026/27, by Faculty)

The table below lists representative programmes from each faculty; for the complete list of 63, refer to the EDB's official list^※.

Each SNDAS programme page sets out Programme-specific Requirements^※, detailing the specific expectations for evidence of talent, academic background, and interview performance. Students should review these carefully before being nominated.

# CUHK General Eligibility (for all nominees)

According to the CUHK SNDAS admissions page^※, nominees must possess all of the following: (1) a consistent record of academic achievement demonstrating the potential to benefit from an undergraduate programme; (2) outstanding talent or exceptional performance in at least one area; (3) the subject-specific requirements of each programme. "Evidence of talent" is not synonymous with "outstanding grades" — the weight given to extra-curricular achievements such as portfolios, competition awards, and self-initiated projects is significantly higher than in the ordinary JUPAS route.

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# Only two places per school? How do principals nominate?

The quota mechanism is the most critical institutional constraint of SNDAS. According to the EDB policy document^※, each local secondary school has only two nomination places (2 nominations per school), and each nominated student may apply for only one SNDAS designated programme.

Nominations are led by the School Principal, and the process is divided into two phases:

"All nominees must attend an interview" is another significant difference between SNDAS and JUPAS: under JUPAS, some programmes only extend interview invitations to candidates who place them among their Band A choices, but SNDAS stipulates that participating universities must arrange assessments for all nominees (per the EDB's SNDAS policy^※).

Scarcity of the quota: There are over 450 secondary schools in Hong Kong, and each school's annual quota is only two. Using the 4th cohort as an example, 420 schools^※ submitted a total of 814 valid nominations, indicating that some schools used only one place or did not participate at all — not every school produces two nominees each year.

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# How many did CUHK admit? How should the figures be read?

SNDAS admission figures (using the 4th cohort / 2025 intake as the reference year) represent the most documented annual data currently available:

Sources: International Education Alliance summary of the 4th cohort SNDAS results^※; Sing Tao Daily report (4th cohort, announced July 2025)^※.

Key points when reading the figures:

• CUHK's admission rate for this cohort was approximately 54 ÷ 169 ≈ 32% — meaning roughly one out of every three students nominated by their principals to CUHK received a formal offer;
• Of the 169 students nominated to CUHK, 115 did not receive an SNDAS offer after interview, but their JUPAS applications were unaffected and they could still compete after the release of results;
• Of the 342 students admitted across all eight universities, 335 accepted (an acceptance rate of 98%), reflecting the attractiveness of SNDAS offers;
• CUHK figures vary between different cohorts and statistical cut-off points (for example, another media report cited "55 direct admissions" for CUHK in a particular cohort). This article relies on the most detailed source for the 4th cohort (152 schools / 169 nominees / 54 admitted).

CUHK has not published a complete official annual report with a programme-by-programme breakdown of admission figures; unofficially circulated data on "programme popularity rankings" or claims that "a certain department admitted only one person" come from media coverage and do not constitute official confirmation. This article does not cite them as verified figures.

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# What's new for the 5th cohort (2026 intake)?

According to EDB announcements and the International Education Alliance's summary^※, the 5th cohort of SNDAS (for students sitting the 2026 HKDSE) has two main changes: first, the total number of designated programmes across all eight universities has expanded to 305 (a net increase of 6 over the previous cohort), with CUHK increasing to 63 (including the newly added "Public Humanities" JS4100); second, the Multi-faceted Excellence Scholarship has officially launched — sponsored by the Chinese Permanent Cemeteries Management Committee, it awards HK$10,000 per year (totalling HK$40,000 over four years) to SNDAS entrants who demonstrate outstanding achievement in arts, sports, or community service. No separate application is required, and there is no means test. The nomination period (early October), interview period (January – early June), and the timing of results (before the HKDSE) remain the same as the 4th cohort.

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# Does applying for SNDAS and JUPAS at the same time cause a conflict?

Students nominated for SNDAS must simultaneously submit a JUPAS application and must include the SNDAS designated programme they are applying for among their 20 JUPAS choices (some universities require it to be placed within Band A, their top three choices). This "dual-track" design ensures that students are not left with fewer post-HKDSE options by virtue of participating in SNDAS.

The dual-track approach has two possible outcomes:

1. Receives and accepts an SNDAS offer → The student's JUPAS application is automatically withdrawn in its entirety (including all other 19 choices), securing their place directly before the HKDSE;
2. Does not receive an SNDAS offer (or declines it) → The JUPAS application remains fully intact, and the student competes on equal terms with those who did not participate in SNDAS after HKDSE results are released.

Schemes that cannot be pursued simultaneously: SNDAS nominees may not simultaneously apply to the "School Principal's Nominations (SPN) Scheme" or the "Student-Athlete Learning Support and Admission Scheme," per the EDB's SNDAS policy^※.

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# What do the interviews involve? What talents does CUHK assess?

SNDAS interviews are arranged independently by each university and take place between January and early June 2026. According to the CUHK Admissions Office's guidance^※, CUHK's holistic assessment of nominees covers the following dimensions:

• School reference report and in-school academic results (school reference report and school examination results);
• Evidence of exceptional discipline-specific talent (Extra-curricular achievements and other learning experiences);
• Interview performance (all nominees must attend).

The interview emphasis varies by programme: Music programmes may expect a performance demonstration or portfolio; Sports Science and Physical Education programmes value competitive achievements; Medicine involves multi-stage assessments examining communication and values; AI/Computer Science programmes place weight on programming competitions and research background; Humanities and Social Science programmes value writing and critical thinking. Specific interview requirements and document checklists for each programme can be found on the CUHK SNDAS Programme-specific Requirements page^※ (individual PDFs for each programme).

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# What disciplines does SNDAS cover? Can business or engineering students be nominated?

SNDAS initially gave the impression of being oriented towards artistic and sporting talent, but CUHK's 63 designated programmes for 2026/27 span the Arts, Business, Engineering, Medicine, Science, Education, Social Science, and Architecture — Business Administration, Financial Technology, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Medicine are all included. A student with an outstanding record in mathematical olympiads or programming competitions could be nominated by their principal for Computational Data Science (JS4416) or Artificial Intelligence: Systems and Technologies (JS4468), without having to compete solely on DSE scores. Law (JS4903 LLB) has not yet been included in the SNDAS list for 2026/27 and must still be applied for via JUPAS / Non-JUPAS.

According to the International Education Alliance's summary of 4th cohort data^※, among the admitted students, approximately 75 were in healthcare-related fields, about 65 in science, and about 61 in computing/engineering — in fact the three most popular areas among all admitted students territory-wide, far exceeding arts and sports. The "STEM boom" trend within SNDAS is already very evident.

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# Data reliability and notes

Official hard data: The scheme's starting year (2022/23), the limit of two nominations per school, the rule that "all nominees must be interviewed," the Multi-faceted Excellence Scholarship (HK$10,000/year), and the number of designated programmes for the 5th cohort (305 across all eight universities / 63 at CUHK) — are all taken directly from the Education Bureau or CUHK's official websites. Media-compiled figures: The 4th cohort figures for CUHK of "152 schools / 169 nominees / 54 admitted" and the territory-wide figures of "420 schools / 342 offers / 335 accepted" are second-hand data points. Slight discrepancies exist between different sources and cut-off points (e.g., "55" versus "54" admitted at CUHK); these are noted alongside each other without arbitration. Unsubstantiated claims removed: Official programme-level admission breakdowns for each year are not publicly available, and rumours circulated among the public are not cited in this article.

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# See also

• Overview of undergraduate admissions routes (including JUPAS / Non-JUPAS / mainland China gaokao / international qualifications): undergraduate-admissions.md
• Programme catalogue and JS code master list: programme-catalogue.md
• Tuition fees, scholarships, and the Multi-faceted Excellence Scholarship: tuition-and-scholarships.md
• Unofficial-history perspectives on admissions issues: ../17-wilder-policies/source-directory.md