XN000022-1995-02-08 — Page 4

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$27,014m grant to UGC-funded institutions for 1995-98

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The Governor-in-Council has approved the distribution and level of student numbers at the seven institutions funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC) for 1995-98, and approval of a recurrent funding of $27,014 million recommended by the UGC for them for the triennium will be sought from the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council soon.

The seven institutions are the University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University and Lingnan College.

A Government spokesman said today (Wednesday) that in assessing the recurrent funding requirements, the UGC had adjusted the distribution of student numbers as set out in its Interim Report on the Development of Higher Education for the period 1991-2001 to make provision for a "central pool" of research post-graduate student numbers.

"These places will be allocated to the institutions by the Research Grants Council on a competitive basis, having regard to such factors as the institutions' research training capacity, research performance, quality of research post- graduate education programmes," the spokesman said.

"Apart from the research post-graduate student numbers, the sub-degree student numbers have also been revised to accommodate 146 full-time equivalent sub-degree students who were enrolled by the Lingnan College in 1993-94 and who will not graduate until the end of the 1995-96 academic year," he added.

The spokesman said the Government supported the revised distribution of student numbers proposed by the UGC and reaffirmed the objective of providing 18 per cent of the relevant age group of the population with first-year, first-degree places, which will be maintained at the 1994-95 level, that is 14,500 places throughout the

triennium.

He also said there would be a modest growth in the numbers of taught post- graduate and research post-graduate places to meet demand for highly qualified manpower and home-grown academic staff in Hong Kong.

The UGC has adopted a new methodology to assess more rigorously and precisely each institution's requirements for resources in the 1995-98 triennium to meet its teaching and research targets.