Section B The Costs of Higher Education
Chapter 11 : Recurrent Funding

(cf Chapter 37 of "Higher Education in Hong Kong" (1996))

11.1	The largest single contribution by the Hong Kong taxpayer to the costs of higher education is the annual recurrent grant to the UGC institutions. The recurrent grant and supplementary grants allocated to meet salary increases in 1997-98 totalled about HK$11,800m, which was distributed between the institutions as follows: Table 11.1 Annual Recurrent Grant 1
Institution HK$m 1995-96 1997-98 CityU 1,336 1,467 HKBU 550 617 LC 227 2 233 CUHK 2,324 2,513 HKIEd N/A3 830 PolyU 1,607 1,731 HKUST 1,433 1,585 HKU 2,295 2,565 Others4 1 267 Total 9,773 11,808 Notes: 1 also includes supplementary grants to meet salary adjustments 2 earmarked 3 HKIEd became a UGC-funded institution in 1996 4 including grants allocated directly to organisations other than the 8 institutions and balance of Earmarked Research Grants and Central Allocations to be allocated to each UGC-funded institution. Source: UGC Secretariat
11.2	Recurrent funding for subvented but non-UGC institutions is determined by the heads of appropriate bureaux of government on an annual basis as part of the government Resource Allocation Exercise. New initiatives have to be bid for as part of this exercise, unless they can be funded by savings elsewhere in the bureau. The HKAPA and technical colleges had recurrent grants totalling HK$652m in 1997-98.