TNAG-2765-FCO40-3982-UK-Hong-Kong-Scholarship-Scheme-donation-to-the-UK-Governme-1993 — Page 155

TIMING

It would be useful to know Mr Lankester's views by 24 June.

The SBFSS meetings start on 29 June.

4.

BACKGROUND

5. The SBFSS began in 1987, following the signature of a

Memorandum of Understanding at 10 Downing Street in June 1986 by

Lord Howe, the late Sir Y K Pao and Li Peng, in the presence of

the then Prime Minister and the then General Secretary of the

Communist Party of China.

6. Under the scheme, some £3.5 million is made available each year for ten years, in addition to British Council administrative charges, to enable some 200-300 Chinese scholars annually to

undertake PhD studies and postgraduate research in Britain. The

scheme is co-funded by the Chinese Government's State Education

Commission (SEdC), ODA and the Sir Y K Pao Foundation (SYKPF).

ODA and SEdC contribute some £1.4m per year, SYKPF slightly less.

7.

The scheme is formally supervised by a Commission on which

each contributor has two representatives. Mr Lankester and Dr

Iredale are the British Commissioners. The Commissioners meet

annually. Dr Iredale and Mr Putnam (EASD) will be representing ODA at this year's meeting in Peking, and on a pattern agreed

at the inaugural meeting in 1986 Britain will chair

chair the

meeting.

-

8. The scheme is due to last 10 years and end in 1997. This

implies that we will no longer be able to start new PhD awards

during the final years of the scheme. The co-funders have not

yet explicitly discussed whether the scheme should be extended. However, this

this issue is increasingly likely to arise in the

context of discussing future PhD awards. It would therefore be