Enhancement and Start-up Grant Scheme for Self-financing Post-secondary Education opens for application

     The Education Bureau (EDB) today (December 21) announced that the 2022/23 round of applications under the Enhancement and Start-up Grant Scheme for Self-financing Post-secondary Education is open for application from today to April 13, 2023. 
 
     The Scheme aims to provide financial support for eligible self-financing post-secondary education institutions to develop and enhance programmes that meet market needs but require high start-up costs, and help alleviate the institutions' need to fully recover the set-up costs from tuition fees, thus relieving the financial burden on students. It also supports institutions to better develop their own strengths and niche areas, strengthening strategic co-ordination between institutions. 
 
     Eligible institutions are as follows:
 
a) Hong Kong Metropolitan University; 

b) approved post-secondary colleges under the Post Secondary Colleges Ordinance (Cap. 320); and 

c) post-secondary institutions registered under the Education Ordinance (Cap. 279). 

     The Scheme subsidises full-time locally accredited local self-financing sub-degree and undergraduate (including top-up degree) programmes, covering both the development of new programmes and the enhancement of existing ones. With a view to enhancing the teaching and learning in designated academic areas, it supports projects of the following nature:
 
a) significant development/enhancement of programme curriculum and pedagogies; 

b) recruitment/professional development of faculty members and teaching staff; 

c) procurement/upgrade of market-standard equipment/facilities to meet academic and professional requirements; 

d) provision of new/improvement to existing discipline-specific campus facilities/infrastructure; and 

e) other relevant discipline-specific expenditure areas that are in alignment with the objective of the scheme. 

     Funding for each proposal will generally be subject to a cap of $42 million. The Committee on Self-financing Post-secondary Education will give advice to the Secretary for Education regarding the comparative merits of the proposals.
 
     In the 2021/22 round of applications, four out of 19 applications were approved with a total grant of about $117 million. They covered the allied health, art technology, construction management and supply chain management sectors, which are conducive to catering for the keen manpower demand of the relevant industries. Details of the projects are as follows:
 

 
     The EDB will maintain close liaison with relevant institutions to make the best use of the resources of the Scheme and launch the relevant programmes as soon as practicable.
 
     Further details of the Scheme and the approved projects can be found at the designated website (www.cspe.edu.hk/en/esgs.html).