HKUST the First Choice for PhD Studies in Hong Kong 30% of Top RGC Awardees Worldwide Choose HKUST

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01/04/2010 HKUST the First Choice for PhD Studies in Hong Kong 30% of Top RGC Awardees Worldwide Choose HKUST

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is pleased to announce that the University is the first choice among top graduates worldwide pursuing PhD studies in Hong Kong. The results of the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme 2010 / 11, announced by the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong, show that close to 30% of the awardees worldwide chose HKUST as the destination for doctorate studies.

115 international elite candidates have accepted offers of the first round of the Scheme established by RGC, and among which 34 candidates (29.6%) are going to HKUST - the highest among the seven UGC-funded institutions in Hong Kong participating in the scheme.

"We at HKUST are very pleased and excited to learn that HKUST is the first choice among top graduates worldwide considering pursuing their doctorate in Hong Kong," said President Tony F Chan. "As a research university with world class professors and facilities, we look forward to receiving these world class doctorate students who will make good contribution to scientific and technological research."

Being dedicated to research, HKUST has faculty members from first class universities around the world with outstanding performance in research. Awards won by faculty members include the Croucher Senior Research Fellowship, the Natural Science Award from the China Academy of Sciences, and awards from the Ministry of Education. HKUST's signature Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program provides opportunities for first and second year undergraduate students to engage in top notch research with professors. Many of its graduates have been offered scholarships to pursue PhD studies in renowned universities around the world. The University

established the Institute for Advanced Study to foster innovation and scientific breakthroughs and organized over 100 distinguished lectures, seminars and workshops with internationally acclaimed speakers. Its faculty members have been frequently contributing research articles to academic journals.

The University has achieved superb global rankings in less than 20 years. The HKUST Business School became the first Asian school to advance to top 10 in the world in the annual Financial Times MBA rankings. Overall the MBA program ranks No. 9 and the School's research ranks No. 10. The School of Engineering and the School of Humanities and Social Science rank first in Greater China and first in Asia respectively (rankings by Shanghai Jiao Tong

University), while the School of Science ranks top in Hong Kong (Times Higher Education Supplement).

The Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme was launched by RGC in 2009 to attract the best and brightest students from around the world to pursue their PhD studies and research in Hong Kong using criteria such as academic excellence, research ability and potential, communication and interpersonal skills, and leadership abilities. Meant to accept only candidates eligible for admission to the top universities around the world, it has only made148 offers among the 2,996 applications worldwide from 100 countries / regions - among which 115 offers have been accepted.

The successful candidates were chosen through a stringent vetting process involving two selection panels comprising 21 overseas and 15 local academics, and detailed examination of the short-listed applications by the 16-member Panel which came to Hong Kong from overseas.

Among the 115 awardees, 71 (62%) candidates are from the Mainland and 10 (9%) from Hong Kong. The remaining 34 (29%) come from other parts of the world, including 13 (11%) from Europe, 12 (10%) from other Asian countries, six (5%) from America, two (2%) from Africa, and one (1%) from Australia. Most of the awardees will study in the fields of Engineering (31%) and Physical Sciences (27%), while the rest will study in areas relating to Biology and Medicine (16%) and Humanities, Social Sciences and Business Studies (26%).

The seven institutions participating in the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme, namely The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Lingnan University, and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, each nominated 370 applicants to compete for the Fellowships.

All News More News at Media Information Center For media enquiries, please feel free to contact :

Ross Lai

Tel: 2358 6306 / 9103 2928 Email: rosslai@ust.hk

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