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THE BRITISH COUNCIL IN HONG KONG
Note for the Foreign Secretary
The British Council was first established in Hong Kor in 1948. It currently. contributes to a high-profile British esence by promoting educational exchanges, teaching English to about 30,000 students a year, providing professional assistance to teachers of English, and promoting British arts.
Two further initiatives will be pursued in 1990/91:
Educational Trust Fund
Hong Kong (with Malaysia) leads the world in sending full fee-paying students to Britain. Annual student arrivals have recently increased to about 10,000 and there are fears that future years may see a substantial reduction as a result of the present relations between Britain and Hong Kong. At present, British funding for study in Britain is in the form of fee support rather than full awards. It is largely under the control of the Hong Kong Government and aimed primarily at undergraduate candidates. An independent Educational Trust Fund (possibly under royal patronage) will provide scholarships to the best young graduates for further study in Britain at postgraduate and post-doctoral levels. Higher level research by senior academics, in either Britain or Hong Kong, will also be included. The Council has identified launch funds totalling £750k, but
but the Trust will raise
will raise substantial capital funding from businesses and other organisations in both Britain and Hong Kong.
Higher Education Exchanges
The Council will set up a programme of academic exchanges to cement relations between tertiary level institutions in Hong Kong and Britain at a time when Hong Kong is undertaking a major expansion of higher education provision. The aim is to establish long term partnerships through academic links and collaborative staff development, concentrating on science, technology, education and the social sciences. Annual costs, including the necessary expansion of Council staffing to
to run the programme, are £250k. Contributions totalling at least £100k are expected from the participating institutions in Hong Kong.
Proposals for an expanded future programme, which are at present under discussion with FCO, include:
University of Science and Technology
The new University of Science and Technology, founded in 1986, expects to admit its first students in 1991. Construction of the University as a whole is being funded by the Hong Kong Government and from a large donation from the Jockey Club. In order demonstrate Britain's commitment to the expansion of education in Hong Kong, the British Council proposes the financing of a research
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