Established in 2009 by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) aims at attracting the best and brightest students in the world to pursue their PhD programmes in Hong Kong’s institutions.
Eligibility
Those who are seeking admission as new full time PhD students in Hong Kong institutions funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC), irrespective of their country of origin and ethnic background, should be eligible to apply. Applicants should demonstrate outstanding qualities of academic performance, research ability / potential, communication and interpersonal skills, and leadership abilities.
The Fellowship
The Fellowship provides a monthly stipend of HK$20,000 (approximately US$2,600) and a conference and research related travel allowance of HK$10,000 (approximately US$1,300) per year for the awardees for a period of three years. About 135 PhD Fellowships will be awarded each academic year1. For awardees who need more than three years to complete the PhD degree, additional support may be provided by the chosen institutions. For details, please contact the institutions concerned directly.
1Academic year in Hong Kong normally starts in September.
Selection Panels
Shortlisted applications, subject to their areas of studies, will be reviewed by one of the two HKPF Selection Panels with experts in the relevant broad areas — one for science, medicine, engineering and technology and another one for humanities, social science and business studies.
Selection Criteria
While the academic excellence is of prime consideration, the Selection Panels will take into account, but is not limited to, the four yardsticks below for the selection of candidates:
1. Academic excellence;
2. Research ability and potential;
3. Communication, and interpersonal skills; and
4. Leadership abilities.
Application Process
Applicants may choose up to two programmes in one or two institutions for PhD study in their HKPFS applications. They are also required to submit application(s) for PhD admission to the relevant institution(s) directly for their selected programme(s). Applicants are therefore required to fully comply with the admission requirements of their selected institutions and programmes. The HKPFS 2011/12 will call for applications in September 2010. Detailed arrangements for the application process will be announced later.
Admission requirements of individual institutions are as follows:
City University of Hong Kong
(http://www.cityu.edu.hk/sgs/hkphd/index.htm)
Hong Kong Baptist University
(http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~gs/hkpfs/ent_req.html)
Lingnan University
(http://www.ln.edu.hk/reg/info/phd/require.php)
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
(http://www2.cuhk.edu.hk/gss/entry.php)
The Hong Kong Institute of Education
(http://www.ied.edu.hk/acadprog/rpg/prog_info.htm)
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
(http://www.polyu.edu.hk/ro/hkphd-fellowship/)
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
(http://www.ust.hk/hkpfs/how.html)
The University of Hong Kong
(http://www.hku.hk/gradsch/web/apply)
Individual institutions may conduct interviews with applicants as part of the assessment for selection. Candidates not selected for the HKPFS may also be accepted by the concerned institution for admission and offered with postgraduate studentship of the institutions.
Postgraduate Studies in Hong Kong
For more information on postgraduate studies in Hong Kong, please visit the Joint Institutions homepage at http://www.grad.edu.hk/grad/ and the website of Immigration Department at http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/faq_ipoe.htm for details concerning the immigration policy on study in Hong Kong.
Contact detail: HKPF@ugc.edu.hk
Moreinfo: http://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/hkphd/hkphd.htm