Hong Kong's scheme to attract PhD students from the mainland and abroad - with money, high-level contacts and opportunities in a booming China - is entering its second year on the upswing.
Launched in 2009, the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme has awarded fellowships to 125 scholars this academic year, up from 115 in its first full year, 2010-11.
Mainlanders make up the majority of recipients in both years, while the number of participants from outside Asia has grown to 13.6 per cent this year from 10.4 per cent last year.
Students who apply for fellowships cite the relatively large amount of the grant, the access to mainland China and the high level of academic advisers made available to them.
'I've seen two Nobel laureates already,' says Riccardo Taormina, an Italian civil and structural engineering student at Polytechnic University.
The fellowship scheme provides a monthly stipend of HK$20,000 (about US$2,600) and a travel allowance for conferences and research of HK$10,000 per year for each recipient for three years.