China News Service, Hong Kong, August 18th. Yang Runxiong, Director of the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, stated on the 18th that in the 2020-2021 academic year, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has issued nearly 50 million (Hong Kong dollars, the same below) to subsidize Hong Kong under the "Mainland University Subsidy Scheme". Students progress to universities in Mainland China.

　　Yang Runxiong made the above remarks in a written reply to the questions of the Legislative Council members that day.

　　Yang Runxiong said that the "Mainland University Advancement Funding Program" received 4277 applications last school year, and a grant of about 49 million yuan has been distributed.

In that school year, the total number of beneficiaries was 3833, of which 3,055 received full or half subsidy through means-tested, and 778 received non-means-tested subsidy.

　　It is reported that the "Mainland University Advancement Subsidy Scheme" aims to provide appropriate support to Hong Kong students going to the Mainland to study for bachelor's degree courses to ensure that students will not be denied the opportunity of tertiary education due to financial difficulties.

　　In the last school year, the full subsidy under the means-tested subsidy was 16,800 yuan per student per year, and the half subsidy was 8,400 yuan per student per year.

The fixed subsidy under the non-means-tested subsidy is 5,600 yuan per student per year.

The subsidy will be issued annually, and the subsidy period is the normal study period of students studying for bachelor's degree courses in designated Mainland institutions.

　　Last school year, a total of 1,339 Hong Kong students studying at Jinan University received financial aid, making it the university that received the most financial aid, followed by Huaqiao University and Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, with 505 and 281 receiving financial aid respectively.

There were 47, 44 and 27 Hong Kong students studying in top universities in the Mainland, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Fudan University.

　　The data provided by the Education Bureau shows that from the 2014 to 2015 school year to the 2020 to 2021 school year, the number of students receiving financial assistance has been increasing year by year.

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