Company sets up scholarship fund

A LOCAL cargo container company has set up a $6 million fund for scholarships to be awarded to Hong Kong and mainland undergraduates.

The company, Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), was founded by the late shipping mogul C. Y. Tung.

Starting this school year, the Tung OOCL Scholarship Fund, set up by the charity trust Tung Foundation, will invite applications for 18 one-year scholarships and 18 travel awards from undergraduates of City University of Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong and Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The scholarships will be equally distributed among the three institutes, with each scholar receiving $40,000.

The travel awards, which aim to enable students to attend overseas conferences, seminars and study projects, will amount to $10,000.

For China, 210 one-year scholarships will be awarded annually to Shanghai's Fudan University and Jiaotong University and Beijing's Qinghua University and Peking University.

Each mainland scholar will receive about $4,000.

An OOCL spokesman said the difference in scholarship amount for Hong Kong and mainland students corresponded to the different tuition fees.

'As Hong Kong undergraduates pay almost $30,000 annually, they could use the leftover money for other academic expenses such as buying reference books.' The spokesman also said the company would evaluate the scholarships after the first three years.

'Since this is the first time that OOCL has organised scholarships for Hong Kong and China students, we will need a trial period, but we are sure the scholarship programme will be continued.' The selection committee will comprise Mr C. H. Tung and Mr C. C. Tung, sons of the late Mr Tung.

Applicants should be in the disciplines of humanities, business management or computer science/information technology. Selection will be based on academic performance, community services and financial needs.