TNAG-1362-FCO40-1808-Hong-Kong-Hansard-reports-and-minutes-of-the-meetings-of-the-1985 — Page 166

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9.

While it may be true that fewer Hong Kong

students went to the UK for further education in 1984-85

compared with the previous year (and I must stress that

this is an area where accurate statistical information

is not readily available as visas issued by the

Immigration Department do not necessarily correlate

with the eventual number of students proceeding to

!

the UK or, for that matter, any country of a student's

destination) and while it is true that the number of

applications for the Joint Funding Scheme in the

current academic year has seen a decline compared

With the previous academic year (1813 compared with

2338), the number of students successfully receiving

a grant under the Scheme this year has, contrary to

what Mr. Cheung said, actually increased (1327 compared

with 1201, or an increase of 10.5%). The average amount

of grant in each case has also seen an increase (2530

compared with 2118, or an increase of 19.5%). To make

a further comparison, I should mention that the total

cost of the Scheme has risen from 52.54 m. in 1983-84 to

3.36 m. this year, or an increase of some 32%.

10.

I hope this information will allay some of

Mr. Cheung's fears about the effectiveness of the

Scheme. I must emphasize that the Scheme is not

aimed at providing Hong Kong students with free

higher education in the UK; nor is it designed to

/encourage