Why did the UGC introduce greater competitiveness in allocating research funding?

All our universities have indicated that they aspire to be able to compete with the best in the world. Competition drives excellence. It is the outstanding research that drives innovation contributing to society and the economy. Research funding is finite, and must be competitively allocated on merit basis so as to encourage excellence, which will benefit the overall development of higher education in Hong Kong and is in the best interests of Hong Kong.

To this end, the UGC has introduced greater competitiveness in the allocation of three key areas of funding for research: the Research Portion of the Block Grant; the Research Grants Council (RGC); and research postgraduate places.