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pressures under which the Diplomatic Wing Scholarship
programmes are operating.
The substance of the proposed
phase-out and intended reallocation of reduced funds for Hong
Kong scholarships is contained in the attached draft letter to
the Hong Kong Government.
5.
The proposed reduction in scholarship resources allocated
to Hong Kong represents a considerable cutback (Hong Kong is currently top of the list of FCO scholarship fund recipients on £2,240,000 per annum). Under present plans, this will be
cut back to £540,000 (it is expected that the exisiting FCOSAS
provision of £1,130,000 per annum for China will continue). However, we feel this is a realistic allocation when seen
against a background of overall cuts and tight budgetary
constraints. The Hong Kong Government suggested that HMG
divert our total savings resulting from the phase-out to
funding improvements in UK/Hong Kong Scholarships. We do not see this as a viable option. Given that the Hong Kong
Government are withdrawing completely from the UK/Hong Kong
Joint Funding Scheme, such a high contribution from us would
clearly be disproportionate to our commitments in other areas
of the world. Also, UK/Hong Kong Scholarships are not ideally
targetted from the point of view of the UK's long-term
interests, since they focus mainly on first degree candidates.
Our proposed provision of £0.5 million for new FCOSAS awards
could target worthwhile Hong Kong candidates at postgraduate
level and focus on study areas which might be relevant to
future UK interests. The new FCOSAS awards (£0.5 million will
fund about 35 full costs scholarships) would have to be operated by the British Trade Commission in Hong Kong (BTC) in
Hong Kong and by the New Consulate General after 1997. Before going firm and telling Hong Kong of this new programme we will have to discuss modalities (staffing and other implications)
with the BTC. In this way we would expect to maintain full
control of this highly valued tool.
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