Enhancement and Start-up Grant Scheme for Self-financing Post-secondary Education

To support self-financing post-secondary institutions to develop their distinct characters and niche areas and launch quality programmes which will better respond to the community needs, the $1.26 billion Enhancement and Start-up Grant Scheme for Self-financing Post-secondary Education (ESGS) provides financial support for eligible self-financing post-secondary education institutions to develop and enhance self-financing sub-degree or undergraduate (including top-up degree) programmes that meet market needs but require high start-up costs. It also helps alleviate the institutions’ need to fully recover the set-up costs from tuition fees, thus relieving the financial burden on students.

Independent non-profit-making education institutions offering full-time locally-accredited local self-financing sub-degree or undergraduate (including top-up degree) programmes are eligible to apply. These institutions include –

Hong Kong Metropolitan University;
approved post secondary colleges under the Post Secondary Colleges Ordinance (Cap. 320); and
post-secondary institutions registered under the Education Ordinance (Cap. 279).

The ESGS covers both the development of new and the enhancement of existing programmes. It supports projects of the following nature, with a view to enhancing the teaching and learning in designated academic areas –

significant development/enhancement of programme curriculum and pedagogies;
recruitment/professional development of faculty members and teaching staff;
procurement/upgrade of market-standard equipment/facilities to meet academic and professional requirements;
provision of new/improvement to existing discipline-specific campus facilities/infrastructure; and
other relevant discipline-specific expenditure areas that are in alignment with the objective of the scheme.

The Committee on Self-financing Post-secondary Education (CSPE) will advise on the comparative merits of the proposals received under the ESGS, and make recommendations to the Secretary for Education.

Funding for each proposal will generally be subject to a cap of $42 million. Funding beyond the cap may be provided on a case-by-case basis, subject to the actual utilisation of the funds of the ESGS and the merits of the proposal as advised by the CSPE.

Last Review Date: 14/12/2023