Denying a lawmaker's claim that they were nothing more than "foam education", Secretary for Education Michael Suen Ming-yeung told a Legislative Council education panel meeting the value of associate degrees needed to be clearly defined.
"The problem is obvious simply by looking at the figures. There are tens of thousands of associate degree graduates but only a few thousand university places. However, it takes time to solve the problem," Mr Suen told lawmakers.
He said he would address the problems by discussing them with stakeholders over the next three months, but urged lawmakers to be patient.
"The main thing is to accredit students' knowledge by establishing a credit-point system," Mr Suen said.
With such a system in place, associate degree graduates could choose to work for a few years or pursue studies by other routes, such as the Open University of Hong Kong, as part of a solution to ease the bottleneck at universities.
Mr Suen said the government should clearly define where associate degree holders stood in the qualifications framework, in order for graduates to be better recognised by the government and employers.
There are about 3,000 places for sub-degree graduates in the second year of government-funded degree programmes, while there are 25,000 to 30,000 graduates from associate degree and higher diploma courses each year.
Democrat Cheung Man-kwong, who represents the education sector, described the problems surrounding associate degrees as a "ticking education time bomb" and said the future remained uncertain for many young associate degree holders.
Confederation of Trade Unions legislator Lee Cheuk-yan described associate degrees as "foam education", because the paths to further studies they seemed to offer tended to vanish like foam.
Mr Suen rejected this criticism.
"I don't agree with that. There are different pathways for these graduates. We just need to clearly define the value of associate degrees," he said.
But he did not commit to providing more government-subsidised university places for associate degree holders.
Fung Wai-wah, the convenor of an alliance concerned with sub-degree education, welcomed the credit-point idea.
"Some associate degrees do run on a credit-point system, but there is no standardised mechanism, as different universities waive different credit points on an individual basis," he said.
Associate degrees were established in 2001 to meet former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa's plan to provide higher education opportunities for 60 per cent of 18- to 20-year-olds.
Do you think it is high time for the government to step up and resolve the issue of "foam education"?
The new law passed in Australia allows music fans to make song copies regardless of the format, provided they are solely made for private and domestic use. It also restricts people uploading the copied files onto the internet, but they are allowed to be played on devices such as car sound systems or personal computers.
Under the Copyright Ordinance in Hong Kong, unauthorised copying of a work in any material forms or stored in any medium by electronic means would constitute an infringement of copyright.
"Format-shifting appears on its face to be civilly actionable in Hong Kong," said Michael Pendleton, an intellectual property law expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He said the situation would be clearer if the government followed Australia's example and amended the ordinance.
A spokesman for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said they had been closely monitoring recent developments in intellectual property policy overseas.
"For the new time and format shifting exceptions introduced by the Australian government, we will consider including this subject for public consultation in our next round of review," the spokesman said.
But the music industry was sceptical about relaxation of copyright law.
Ricky Fung Tim-chee, chief executive of International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (Hong Kong Group), said intellectual property issues should be decided by copyright holders and determined by market forces.
"The grey areas are hard to define. Is it still under the definition of domestic use if I copy the music to my portable device and lend it to my friends?" he said. He said the music industry had never taken legal action against individuals who format-shift music, given it was "too hard to enforce".
Ip Iam-chong of Hong Kong In-media, an advocate for the concept of "fair use", said it was time for the government to step up and protect the users' interests.
"The copyright ordinance in Hong Kong has been in favour of the copyright owners," Mr Ip said. "Fair use is rejected by the industry and they have simply equalled property rights to copyrights."
What's illegal
Civil offences
A copyright owner can take civil action against any person who infringes the copyright in the work. In general, the owner has the exclusive right to copy the work and to distribute it to the public.
Criminal offences
