Hong Kong’s Tung family to offer HK$500,000 scholarships to 16 university students committed to serving country
- Scholarships being offered by education foundation set up by late uncle of former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa
- Recipients required to live in Hong Kong or mainland China for minimum of two years after graduation, but flexibility given if they want to pursue postgraduate studies overseas
Sixteen top local university students with a commitment to serve Hong Kong and mainland China will each be given a HK$500,000 (US$63,980) scholarship under a new initiative by an education foundation set up by the late uncle of former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, the biggest such sponsorship for undergraduates in the city.
The scholarships, which will announce their recipients in July and award them in September, will cover the tuition fees, provide a HK$40,000 living allowance during the recipients’ undergraduate studies and offer a subsidy up to HK$80,000 to take part in exchange programmes, including a compulsory tour to the mainland.
It will also provide a HK$100,000 support fund for launching start-ups over the border upon graduation.
The scholarships are being offered by the Tung & Ngai Education Foundation, which was set up in 2017 by Tung Chao-yu, the younger brother of shipping magnate Tung Chao-yung and the uncle of former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, along with his late wife Lily Ngai Chua-Jai.
“They [the board of the foundation] hope to build and strengthen recipients’ sense of recognition of the country and confidence in their culture, as well as boost their civil awareness and responsibility,” Wong Suk-ying, the executive director of the foundation, told the media last week.
Wong is a professor at the department of sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The foundation said the value of the scholarship was the highest among any for local undergraduate students with permanent residency in the city.