Local tertiary education institutions will be assured of minimum matching grants of up to HK$45 million (US$57.96 million) per institution, instead of the HK$30 million previously earmarked for the second phase of the allocation of such grants, Secretary for Education and Manpower Arthur Li said yesterday.

Speaking at the Legislative Council's education panel meeting, Li said the proposed upward adjustment was made in response to student representatives who put forward the demand during their meeting with Li earlier.

Matching grants are funds conferred by the University Grants Committee (UGC) to universities on the basis that every dollar of donation raised by a university through sponsorship would be matched by a dollar granted by the UGC, provided that no individual institution in the overall scheme exceeds the ceiling of HK$250 million.

When asked if all the funding would be diverted to institutions with a stronger ability to raise donations -- thereby taking up the available HK$1 billion earmarked for the grants -- to the disadvantage of the "weaker institutions", Li reassured the Legislative Councillors that it would not be so.

"The HK$45 million will be reserved for the institutions to match their donations in any case.

"And may I add that this is part of what resulted from the talk between the students and myself, and don't say I reneged on the promises I've made," he emphasized.

The matching grants originate from the Financial Secretary Henry Tang's earlier announcement in his 2003-04 budget speech a proposal to set up a HK$1-billion fund to award matching grants to universities.

Of the HK$1 billion commitment approved by the LegCo Finance Committee for the scheme, HK$500 million has already been allocated in the first phase.

In view of the institutions' very encouraging fund-raising results, it would be desirable for the matching grant scheme to continue without disruption, said an Education and Manpower Bureau paper tabled at LegCo.

Yet Legislative Councillor Cheung Yu-yan warned that tertiary institutions that are not good at securing donations had better find ways to improve their fund-raising ability.

In order to supplement donations and government funding, universities are also being encouraged to accept a maximum of 8 per cent of overseas students and charge them higher fees to cover their operating costs.

"While local students fork out HK$42,000, overseas students may have to cough up as much as HK$60,000," Li said.

However, Li said that for the year 2004-05, tertiary institutions in Hong Kong were advised to avoid raising tuition fees.

"This is because we feel such institutions are able to cope well without needing to resort to raising tuition fees," he said.

(China Daily HK Edition December 10, 2003)