Results of Research Grants Council's Competitive Earmarked Research Grant 2002-2003

The Research Grants Council ("RGC") announced today (25 June 2002) its decisions on the annual Competitive Earmarked Research Grant ("CERG") exercise for 2002-2003.

The RGC received a record high of 1,698 applications from the academic staff of the eight institutions funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC) seeking funding of about $1,600 million from the CERG. Out of this total, the RGC decided to fund 691 projects which involved a funding of $428 million. When compared with the last exercise, the funding allocated has gone up by 6% and the overall success rate remained roughly at the level of 40%. A table showing the number of funded projects and the amount of grants by broad subject discipline and institution is attached at the Annex [Excel file].

Commenting on the results, Professor Kenneth Young, Chairman of the RGC said, "Research in Hong Kong's higher education sector has grown significantly in terms of both quality and volume in the past decade. It is gratifying to see that this healthy trend of development has continued this year. That some of the supported proposals compare well with the highest international standards is an observation shared by many overseas experts who have helped to review the proposals."

"Although we have seen a very impressive record of development, Hong Kong's research is still at a young stage. As Hong Kong is striving to enhance its overall competitiveness in the globalized economy, much more remains to be done to upgrade its capacity for innovation and technology. We also need parallel advancement in research in the humanities and social sciences which contributes to the understanding of our society and nourishes the human spirit. This can only be achieved through continued and substantial investments to support research and scholarship in our higher education sector, which stands at the frontier of knowledge advancement," Professor Young added.

Established in 1991, the RGC is a semi-autonomous advisory body operating under the aegis of the University Grants Committee (UGC). As an agency supporting academic research in higher education institutions, the RGC is responsible for supporting and fostering research in all disciplines taught in the institutions so that Hong Kong can keep up with current world-wide developments.

UGC Secretariat
25 June 2002