The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, today (August 20) officiated at the Award Presentation Ceremony 2019 of the Hong Kong Scholarship for Excellence Scheme (HKSES). Seventy-one students were selected as the fifth cohort of awardees.
Speaking at the Ceremony, Mrs Lam said that given the resounding success of the previous four cohorts, the HKSES will be regularised from the 2019/20 academic year onwards, making it a permanent feature in the Government's nurturing of young people. She said that she looked to the awardees, the future generation, to drive business, innovation and technology, arts and culture, academic research and other meaningful activities in Hong Kong and beyond, and that she was confident that they will make significant long-term contributions to Hong Kong’s reputation as a highly competitive, diverse and cosmopolitan city.
All the awardees received their formal secondary school education in Hong Kong, studying either local or non-local curricula. Among them, 56 will be pursuing undergraduate study and 15 postgraduate study at world-renowned universities.
The disciplines that they are going to pursue cover a wide spectrum, ranging from conventional ones such as law, social science, natural science, business management and STEM subjects to disciplines of study that are not available in Hong Kong, such as, history of art and archaeology, information experience design and cinema studies (moving image archiving and preservation). Distribution of the awardees by different disciplines is at Annex.
The diverse pool of scholarship recipients reflects the variety and vibrancy of Hong Kong. The contribution of this group of talents to the society after their graduation and homecoming is expected to fuel further and long-term development of Hong Kong in different aspects and facets.
Competition for the scholarships was keen and vigorous, with 813 applicants who will commence their undergraduate or postgraduate studies in the 2019/20 academic year vying for the title. The awardees have gone through a highly competitive process and demonstrated excellence in their academic and leadership qualities.
As the selection process is still ongoing, some more applicants may be offered the scholarship after today’s ceremony. A list of the awardees as of August 20, 2019 has been uploaded on to the HKSES website (www.edb.gov.hk/hkses).
The HKSES aims to support local students to pursue studies at world-renowned universities outside Hong Kong with a view to grooming a top cadre of talents with global vision, an international network and world-class education, thereby contributing to enhancing Hong Kong’s competitiveness as Asia’s world city in a globalised knowledge economy. Key features of the scholarship scheme are available at the HKSES website.
Details of the next cohort applications for the HKSES will be announced shortly.
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