The eight institutions funded by the University Grants Committee
(UGC) will have more resources at their disposal next year, thanks
to the Research Grants Council's (RGC) decision to increase the
annual Competitive Earmarked Research Grant (CERG) for 2006-07.
CERG accepted to grant HK$489.3 million of the HK$1,759 million
sought by the eight institutions - 21 per cent more than the amount
for last year (HK$404.6 million).
A total of 836 projects would be supported by the funds compared
to 734 last year, a 14 per cent increase. Also, the overall success
of the projects rose to 42 per cent.
Engineering disciplines accounted for 327 of the funded
projects, while Biology and Humanity had 185 and 167,
respectively.
Describing the funds as "a generous support", RGC Chairman
Professor Roland Chin said: "Overall, the council is very impressed
by the quality and diversity of the research proposals."
Among the institutions receiving funds, the University of Hong
Kong (HKU) would get HK$145.6 million, HK$81.2 million would go
into its biology and medicine projects, the largest amount
allocated to a discipline.
The second largest amount, HK$42.1 million, was claimed by the
engineering department of Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology. It was also more than one-fourth of the total amount
the discipline was allocated overall.
In contrast, Lingnan University will receive a small amount of
HK$2.3 million for five projects.
The result of the second round of the Public Policy Research
Funding Scheme (PPRFS) was also announced yesterday.
Sixteen projects worth HK$7.1 million were accepted.
The projects covered a wide spectrum such as educational
inequality, policy in support of family, urban planning, ageing
population and the healthcare system.
(China Daily July 3, 2006)