I want to respond
Archives
UGC
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Extending the Matching Grant Scheme for Internationalisation to Enhance Exchange Opportunities for the Students
(24-03-2011)

The University Grants Committee (UGC) has made 10 recommendations on internationalisation in its “Aspirations for the Higher Education System in Hong Kong” Review Report published in late last year. The support of the higher education sector, including both the UGC-funded institutions and the self-financing ones, for these recommendations is most encouraging. At the Legislative Council Panel on Education meeting held on 14 March 2011, many participants concurred there was a need to accelerate the pace of internationalising higher education in Hong Kong.

Internationalisation has become an inexorable trend for higher education development, and many institutions have embraced internationalisation as its core mission and objective. In recent years, institutions have invested substantially in and formulated a number of strategies to recruit both Mainland students and international students from different countries and cultures. Some have, through establishing partnerships with overseas institutions, set targets to gradually increase exchange and overseas placement opportunities for their students in the next few years. Other institutions are planning for new projects, such as the peer mentoring scheme and host family programme, to facilitate integration between local and non-local students and enhance support for the non-local students.

The UGC is pleased to see the institutions’ moves to promote internationalisation. To enrich the learning experience of our students, apart from increasing the number of non-local students and developing a multi-cultural learning environment, it is also important to increase the overseas study opportunities for local students, so as to allow them to “go out” and broaden their horizon. Those who have participated in overseas exchange programmes saw the value of exchange activities to their personal development, and have experienced significant improvement in their communication skills and language proficiency. Even the more reticent students have become more confident to express their views and to participate actively in class discussion following their participation in exchange programmes. The knowledge acquired and networks developed are most useful to the students’ future career.

Institutions have been arranging various forms of exchange activities for the students. The number of local students engaging in the exchange programmes has increased dramatically, from 1400 in 2003/04 to 3500 in 2009/10. To further promote internationalisation, the UGC has recently announced an extension of the Matching Grant Scheme for Internationalisation, an initiative implemented some six years ago, by providing a further one-off $50 million to the institutions on a matching basis. The grants will be given to the eight funded-institutions according to their undergraduate student numbers. Institutions can use the matching grants for up to three years’ time to provide more exchange opportunities for local students. We have already invited the institutions to submit their proposals on the use of this new funding.

We hope institutions will make good use of the matching grants to open up more overseas exchange opportunities for local students and enhance their international outlook, so that they will be well equipped to face the challenges in the globalised economy.

The University Grants Committee