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    Following is a question by Dr the Hon Kwok Ka-ki and a written reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Professor Arthur K C Li, in the Legislative Council today (June 15):

Question :

It has been reported that the Secretary for Education and Manpower has indicated earlier that consideration is being given to the introduction of the third phase of the Matching Grant Scheme this year to encourage University Grants Committee ("UGC") - funded institutions to raise funds by themselves. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the various donation campaigns for which the above institutions have been awarded matching grants, the respective amounts of private donations and matching grants involved and the total amount of funds raised;

(b) if it knows whether any mechanisms or rules have been drawn up by these institutions regarding matters such as regulating the use of private donations secured under donation campaigns that have been matched by matching grants and reciprocating the donors; if so, whether any established criteria on donation amount have been laid down for reference on the naming the institutions, faculties/departments, campus buildings or research centres after the relevant benefactors, and whether donation campaigns which attained designated private donations have been included in the scope of the Matching Grant Scheme and meet the conditions of the grants; and

(c) whether it will review and improve the Matching Grant Scheme, including considering increasing the aggregate amount of matching grants and raising the ceiling on the amount of grants received by each institution, so as to allow UGC-funded institutions to solicit donations from the community and their alumni through various campaigns and means, hence encouraging different social sectors to make donations and promoting proactively a philanthropic culture, and whether the matching ratio between grants and private donations, which determines the amount of matching grants, will be adjusted by the authorities to allow institutions with smaller fund-raising capabilities to be awarded more grants?

Reply :

Madam President,

(a) The eight University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded institutions secured a total of over $2.3 billion under the Matching Grant Scheme introduced in 2003.  Details are as follows -

Name of                       Donations       Matching

Institution                   eligible for    grants

                             matching        allocated

                             ($ Million)     ($ Million)

-----------                   -----------     -----------

City University of Hong Kong       57            45

Hong Kong Baptist University      186            79

Lingnan University                 48            45

The Chinese University            273           228

    of Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Institute            21            21

    of Education

The Hong Kong Polytechnic         214           201

    University

The Hong Kong University          140           131

    of Science and Technology

The University of Hong Kong       381           250

-----------                   -----------     -----------

Total:                           1,320         1,000

    Institutions' fundraising programmes included staff and student fundraising campaigns, activities targeted at alumni as well as appeals to external donors.

(b) All UGC-funded institutions have established their own internal guidelines for handling donations.  Before accepting donations, institutions will consider carefully the donor's wish and the purpose of the donation, to ensure that they are in line with the role and mission of the institutions concerned.  They have not drawn up criteria in terms of the amount of donation required for naming campus facilities or faculties after benefactors.  In general, institutions will consider a number of factors, such as the impact of such naming arrangements on the institution or faculty concerned; the donor's contribution to the institution, the education sector as a whole or the community at large, etc. in considering whether or not to name facilities or faculties after the benefactor.

    According to the broad principles of the above Matching Grant Scheme, both the matching grants and the corresponding private donations must be used for activities within the ambit of UGC recurrent grants.  In addition, private donations for scholarship could also be matched.  Subject to these broad principles, designated private donations could be matched under the Scheme.

(c) The UGC has completed the review of the Matching Grant Scheme in consultation with the institutions.  In view of the very encouraging response to that Scheme, the Administration intends to allocate another $1 billion for introducing a Second Matching Grant Scheme, to further enhance the fundraising capabilities of the institutions and to encourage community investment in education.  As the First Matching Grant Scheme proceeded very well, we intend to adopt essentially the same basic terms and conditions, with certain relaxations and adjustments to the matching ratio to support the development of the higher education sector.  Our detailed proposal on the Second Matching Grant Scheme has been submitted to the Panel on Education of the Legislative Council, and we will consult Members at the Panels' meeting on June 20, 2005.

Ends/Wednesday, June 15, 2005

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