The University Grants Committee (UGC) hosted a reception on 19 December for outstanding students and to acknowledge the support of the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) for a pilot scholarship scheme to allow mainland students to study in Hong Kong. Thirteen CityU students were awarded certificates at the ceremony in recognition of their outstanding achievements.

 

Under the HKJC Pilot Scholarship Scheme for Outstanding Mainland Students, funded by the HKJC Charities Trust, scholarships will be offered to 450 outstanding mainland students over a period of three years from 1999/2000 onwards. The students are recruited from top mainland universities, such as Peking, Tsinghua, Shanghai Jiaotong and Fudan Universities. Of the 289 mainland students currently studying in Hong Kong, CityU has 19 from the first batch and 25 from the second. A further 25 from the third batch are expected in August 2001. Miss Bian Duo Fen, a year two student in the Department of Economics and Finance, who comes from Shanghai Jiaotong University, said that she believed she had made the right decision to come to Hong Kong to study. "In Shanghai, I used to spend most of my time studying. But here at CityU, I take part in extra-curricular activities and have found that I can do well in many other things! I hope more mainland students can benefit from the scholarship scheme in the future."