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shall however look to the BTC (and to the future Consulate General after 1997) to take on the actual
identification/selection of appropriate candidates (of potential benefit to the UK's and HMG's political, diplomatic and commercial interests) and the equally important subsequent cultivation of those candidates once they have returned to Hong Kong. To give you some idea of the scale of the operation, on present UK tuition fee/maintainance/travel costs, £250,000 will fund some 16 full costs scholarships for 1 year; and a £0.5 million co-sponsorship will fund some 33 full costs scholarships (selection in the latter case will normally need to involve consultation with the co-sponsors). The British Council's administration costs will probably also need to be deducted from the provision of £250,000 (FCOSAS) and £500,000 (co-sponsored programme).
9. I realise that you will not want to start fund-raising during your introductory calls. But I would be most grateful to have thoughts from BTC on (a) whether your collective experience suggests it would be feasible to raise £250,000 in matching funding from Hong Kong or UK/Hong Kong companies, and (b) whether BTC would be able to cope with the oversight of the scheme as in para 8 above. On a personal note, I very much hope this will be possible. The Scheme, even augmented on these lines from the Private Sector, would still represent a dramatic cut in the flow of officially-sponsored students, and therefore a reduction in British influence among the well-educated younger generation in Hong Kong post-1997.
You ever
PF Ricketts
Pever
cc: Mr Cornish, News Dept
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