The Government announced today (August 22) that under the Study Subsidy Scheme for Designated Professions/Sectors (SSSDP), a total of 3 236 subsidised places in 38 programmes will be provided by six post-secondary institutions for the cohort to be admitted in the 2019/20 academic year.
These 38 designated programmes fall under 10 disciplines that have been identified as having keen manpower demand, namely architecture and engineering, computer science, creative industries, financial technology, health care, insurance, logistics, sports and recreation, testing and certification, and tourism and hospitality.
The programmes and number of subsidised places under the SSSDP were determined by the Education Bureau in consultation with relevant policy bureaux and departments. Details of the participating institutions, the programmes and the number of subsidised places are listed in the Annex.
In the 2019/20 academic year, the annual subsidy amount for laboratory-based programmes will be increased from $71,700 in the 2018/19 academic year to $72,800 while that for non-laboratory based programmes will be increased from $41,000 to $41,700 according to the movement of the Composite Consumer Price Index.
The adjusted subsidy amounts are applicable to both new and continuing students meeting the criteria. The subsidy is tenable for the normal duration of the programmes concerned. Subsidised students will pay a tuition fee after subsidy. Students in need may still apply for student financial assistance from the Student Finance Office in respect of the actual amount of tuition fee payable.
The SSSDP was launched in the 2015/16 academic year to subsidise students to pursue designated full-time locally accredited self-financing undergraduate programmes in selected disciplines. It will be regularised in the 2018/19 academic year with the number of subsidised places increased from about 1 000 per cohort to about 3 000 per cohort. Eligible continuing students of the designated programmes will also receive the subsidy from the 2018/19 academic year onwards. The Scheme aims to achieve the following objectives:
(1) To increase the supply of subsidised undergraduate places by leveraging the supply of the self-financing sector;
(2) To nurture talent in support of specific industries with keen demand for human resources;
(3) To encourage the self-financing education sector to offer programmes in selected disciplines that meet Hong Kong's social and economic needs by providing targeted financial support; and
(4) To support the healthy and sustainable development of the self-financing post-secondary education sector to complement the University Grants Committee-funded sector in broadening and diversifying study opportunities.
Allocation of the subsidised first-year intake places will mainly go through the Joint University Programmes Admissions System to ensure that eligible students are selected on a merit basis.
For more details of the SSSDP, please visit www.cspe.edu.hk/SSSDP.
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