CONFIDENTIAL
1.
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On their merits, I believe both these projects deserve support. The research centre project at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology would to ensure maximum benefit to the UK as well as to Hong Kong in the longer term need to be developed in conjunction with UK academic institutions; and we should aim to associate UK firms operating in Hong Kong with its activities. The British Council recognise the need to do this.
2. Paragraph 15 of Miss Marsden's submission, about the British Council PES bid, has been overtaken by Ministers' views that financial provision for ELT for Eastern Europe should be made in the PES bid for the British Council, rather than from the Know How Fund. At Mr Waldegrave's request, the total PES bid for Council activity in Eastern Europe is accordingly being raised to £10.05m, including £6.05m for ELT activity.
3.
The £2.5m figure that Miss Marsden mentions in paragraph 16 of her submission was an earlier figure. It has subsequently been raised in the TMR process to £3.9m, allowing £3m for the research centre project and £900,000 for immersion courses in the UK for Hong Kong English teachers. The overall figure for Hong Kong, now £4.5m, also includes £600,000 for programmes of higher education links and exchanges, a part of the Council's original bid to which we and the Council still attach importance. (The Council is planning this year a major reassessment of its ELT effort in Hong Kong.)
4.
There will be difficult choices to be made if the Treasury cut down our British Council bid substantially. Miss Marsden suggests (paragraph 16 of her submission) that we should ring fence part of the Hong Kong bid to ensure that both projects have sufficient funding for their satisfactory launch in 1991/92. I am very reluctant to do that at this stage. I believe we should press the Treasury on the merits of the case for increased Council activities across the board (with particular emphasis on Eastern Europe and Hong Kong), but leave open how we should allocate a smaller sum if that is what comes out of the PES Round.
4 April 1990
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Rosemary Spencer
CONFIDENTIAL
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