TNAG-2764-FCO40-3981-UK-Hong-Kong-Scholarship-Scheme-donation-to-the-UK-Governme-1993 — Page 129

WWE 789 paschot.

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PCS 385/393/2

21 JAN 1993

7

Ms Haspel

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Hong Kong Department

INDE

HONG KONG: UK/HK JOINT FUNDING SCHEME AND FCO SCHOLARSHIPS:

1.

Thank you for your minute of 8 January and the proposed draft reply to Mr Dinham in Hong Kong.

2. Several points seem to CRD to merit further consideration:-

(i)

(ii)

A

B

C

(iii)

(iv)

Apart from the UK/HK Joint Funding Scheme Hong Kong students are also benefiting from UK/HK Scholarships - a merit scheme for under- and post-graduates worth in total some

£450,000 annually of which the FCO's 50% contribution is £225,000 (made up of £185,000 from the interest on the Sir SK Tang Bequest and £40,000 from FCOSAS).

The FCO are putting £2.2 m into the UK/HK Joint Funding Scheme. Hong Kong is currently the major recipient of the FCO's scholarship resources overall a total of £2,240,000 in 1992/93

-

(excluding our contribution to UK/HK Scholarships which comes from the interest on the Sir SK Tang Bequest). League table attached.

The DW global scholarships budget is under increasingly severe pressures. It will be cut by £1.5 million in 1993/94 and by a further

£1 million in 1994/95. We must therefore scrutinise very carefully how we are deploying all of our scholarship resources and ensure they are being used to the best effect.

Scholarships support and resources for Hong Kong were originally approved by Parliament in 1983 in the form of the fee support/subsidy arrangement. (We subsequently provided the BTCHK with an allocation of £40,000 of FCOSAS resources; this forms part of the FCO's contribution to UK/HK Scholarships.)

In the context of the new AUS command arrangements for deployment of the FCO's resources, including those for scholarships, if there is no longer a case for the originally agreed provision for fee support in HK, then it will presumably be for the Board of Management/ AUS to consider whether all or any of the (saved) resources should be redeployed to the FCOSAS

(a)

(b)

CODE 18-77

in Hong Kong,

elsewhere in the AUS command, or