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Awardees of the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme second round exercise have arrived at Hong Kong by phases to start their new chapter in academic endeavor. To welcome these outstanding students from all parts of the world, the Research Grants Council (RGC), funding body of the Scheme, organized a tea reception in mid November. At the reception, new comers had a chance to meet their fellows and to learn from first round awardees. To those who come to Hong Kong for the first time, the sharing session was especially valuable. Experience of first round awardees could serve as a good reference to help them settle in Hong Kong. Awardees of the first two rounds can be broadly divided into two groups based on background and experience. The first group was students who decided to go abroad for better educational and career opportunities. The Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme has helped them to make the first step towards their goal. The second group was those in Asian countries who planned to pursue their studies in cities like Beijing or Singapore in the first place. They considered that the aforementioned cities possessed good living environment, quality higher education, a certain level of internationalization and promising career prospect. Not until they were offered the fellowship to further their research and studies in Hong Kong did they recognize that the territory is more competitive in every aspect. In this regard, they found that their decision to come to Hong Kong was definitely a right one. The first group students show that the Fellowship Scheme brings quality people to Hong Kong. This will be beneficial to the city's future development. However, the second group students prompt us to reflect. Since the inception of the Scheme, we have organized three outreach visits to top-tier institutions in various countries to introduce the Fellowship Scheme as well as the Hong Kong higher education sector. Before attending our briefing, staff and students of these institutions shared views of the second group awardees mentioned above, i.e. quality higher education institutions in Asia could only be found in Japan, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, etc. Having considered language barrier, internationalization and career development, Singapore and Shanghai appeared to be better choices. However, after learning the situation in Hong Kong, they became aware that the Pearl of the Orient should not be neglected as a choice for further studies and career development. With the effort made by the RGC, the UGC-funded institutions as well as past awardees to promote and introduce the Scheme, the latest round exercise witnesses a greater number of applicants from a greater diversity of countries and regions. Internationalization is cruucial to the development of a metropolis and its higher education sector. The Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme plays a positive and proactive role in fostering internationalization of Hong Kong's higher education sector. However, we recognize that more should be done on this. To attract talents from around the world to come to Hong Kong for networking and development, our government and institutions should spend greater efforts to implement internationalization strategies. Two kinds of awardees impress us very much. The first are outstanding students who are resident in Hong Kong, who used to prefer pursuing their studies and research in Ivy League institutions in the United States. Nevertheless, the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme has changed the mind of some of them, who now decide to stay in Hong Kong. Furthermore, it helps to attract bright Hong Kong students studying in such overseas top-tier institutions to come back Hong Kong to continue their academic pursuit. This shows that the Scheme can both bring in and retain talents for Hong Kong. The second kind are those who have become married after receiving the fellowship. We sincerely wish that Hong Kong will provide a good beginning to those newly wedded, both in their academic pursuits as well as marriage life. Research Grants Council
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