The academic year of 2006 was an exciting and fruitful year for both the University Grants Committee (UGC) and the higher education sector in Hong Kong. Good progress has been made on a number of the new initiatives that we have embarked on, including Matching Grant Schemes, Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2006, and the setting up of the Quality Assurance Council. These and other major activities of the UGC in 2006 will be covered in this publication. We hope that the Facts and Figures will serve as a handy reference for those who are interested in the work of the UGC, as well as the higher education sector of Hong Kong.