Fully Funded Fellowship in Hong Kong by the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) aims at attracting the best and brightest students in the world to pursue their PhD programmes in Hong Kong’s universities. The HKPFS supports the awardees to pursue their PhD studies at the following eight University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded universities in Hong Kong:

• City University of Hong Kong
• Hong Kong Baptist University
• Lingnan University
• The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• The Education University of Hong Kong
• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• The University of Hong Kong

Fellowship

The Fellowship provides each awardee with an annual stipend of HK$301,200 (approximately US$38,600) and a conference and research-related travel allowance of HK$12,600 (approximately US$1,600) per year for a period of up to three years. 250 PhD Fellowships will be awarded in the 2019/20 academic year.

Eligibility

Those who are seeking admission as new full-time PhD students in UGC-funded universities of Hong Kong, irrespective of their country of origin, prior work experience and ethnic background, should be eligible to apply. Applicants should demonstrate outstanding qualities of academic performance, research ability/potential, communication and interpersonal skills, and leadership abilities.

For applicants from non-English speaking universities, unless they provide proof that English is the language of instruction for all courses, they are required to attach score results of TOEFL or IELTS in their PhD applications to the universities concerned. This requirement is exempted if their proposed PhD studies/programmes are specifically in non-English medium, e.g. in Chinese language. Please note that since the UGC-funded universities determine the admission requirements of their PhD programmes, whether applicants need to submit results of any other specific tests is subject to the requirements of individual universities. In general, good results obtained from an open examination widely recognised by international academic institutions will be very useful for universities and Selection Panels of the Scheme to assess one’s intellectual and language competency.

Selection Criteria

While candidates’ academic excellence is the primary consideration, the Selection Panels will take into account factors such as research ability and potential, communication and interpersonal skills as well as leadership abilities. Individual universities may conduct interviews with applicants where necessary. Shortlisted applications, subject to their areas of studies, will be reviewed by one of the two Selection Panels with experts in the relevant broad areas – one for Science, Medicine, Engineering and Technology and another one for Humanities, Social Science and Business Studies.