XN000022-1996-06-26 — Page 12

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In selecting projects for funding support, RGC has regard for the projects' academic merit/integrity, their contribution to the academic development of the institutions and their relevance to the needs of the institutions and Hong Kong's overall economic and social development.

This was the sixth research grant allocation exercise undertaken by the RGC since its establishment in January 1991.

Announcing details of the grant allocation at a press conference, Chairman of RGC, Professor Ping K Ko, said: "This year, the Council was able to support, fully or partially, 464 projects compared with 454 last year.

"Among the projects supported this year, the RGC has funded 26 projects involving, to varying degrees, collaboration with academics in Chinese higher education institutions, and a further 56 involving collaboration with other overseas institutions.

"The quality of the bids was again very high. The top-ranked proposals, which made up 14 per cent of the total applications received, were of sufficient quality to secure funding in any competitive environment in other parts of the world," he said.

Professor Ko noted that the Council also made a conscious decision, despite the additional money available, to raise the quality threshold, as evidenced by the overall lower success rate of 45 per cent as compared with 51 per cent last year, and a larger number of projects, 328 as compared with 216 last year, which were rated as fundable, but unfunded.

"Apart from disbursing grants, the RGC is also responsible for monitoring the use of government funding for academic research. Among the 80 completed projects assessed in 1995-96, 14 were rated 'Excellent', 60 were rated 'Satisfactory' and six were rated 'Unsatisfactory'.

"The Council has noted the performance of the principal investigators concerned and will take this into account in considering future applications," he said.

As part of its ongoing programme to evaluate the research environment of UGC-funded institutions, RGC visited the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Chinese University of Hong Kong in December 1995 and June 1996 respectively.

Professor Ko said: "From these and earlier visits, the Council is pleased to observe that the research culture in Hong Kong continues to grow and there are clear signs of developing research excellence."