Government and Policy

HK to aid students to go and learn about mainland

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-02-23 15:55

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's financial chief John Tsang, in his budget speech on Wednesday, proposed to allocate HK$100 million ($12.8 million) to launch a five-year pilot scheme to subsidize local tertiary students participating in short-term internship or learning programs in the Chinese mainland.

Tsang said he encouraged young people in Hong Kong to see for themselves and learn more about the mainland's latest development through visits, exchanges or voluntary services.

Participants will be able to learn about the prevailing social, economic and cultural landscapes of the mainland through these programs. Each student may receive a subsidy of up to HK$3,000. It is estimated that over 30,000 students will benefit from the scheme, he said.

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Tsang also made proposals on supporting students from low-income families in Hong Kong, saying he was "particularly concerned" about the educational needs of students from low-income families.

Hong Kong's existing student financial assistance schemes offered financial support to eligible pre-primary, primary, secondary and post-secondary students, and the annual recurrent expenditure involved exceeds HK$3.1 billion, benefiting as many as 360,000 students, or around 34 percent of the total number of students, according to Tsang.

He proposed to relax the income ceiling for the full level of student financial assistance under the means test mechanism starting from the 2011-12 academic year. This proposal is expected to involve an additional recurrent expenditure of about HK$300 million a year.

It is estimated that for the 2011-12 academic year, this measure will provide full assistance to about 75,000 additional students at all levels of study. And the number of students receiving full assistance will increase from currently about 110, 000 to 190,000, representing 50 percent of the total number of recipients.

Tsang also proposed to adjust the existing tiers of financial assistance for post-secondary students so that more students will be granted full assistance.

In the 2011-12 academic year, about 30,000 post-secondary students will be granted full assistance and 22,000 will receive more assistance. This proposal is expected to involve an additional recurrent expenditure of about HK$140 million a year.

In addition, he proposed to increase the grants for academic expenses for Hong Kong's post-secondary students starting from the 2011-12 academic year. This proposal will involve an additional recurrent expenditure of about 48 million HK dollars a year.  

(US dallor 1equals HK$7.79 )