- Apart from the non-means-tested scholarship to cover the tuition fees of their study in world renowned universities/institutions outside Hong Kong (subject to a ceiling of HK$300,000 per annum, whichever is lower), awardees of the Hong Kong Scholarship for Excellence Scheme (HKSES) passing a means test will receive bursary, subject to a ceiling of HK$200,000 per student per annum, for covering living and other study-related expenses.
- There are different fixed levels of bursary amount for different study destinations. The Education Bureau (EDB) will, based on those fixed levels of bursary amount, decide on the level of bursary amount applicable to the individual awardees based on their specific study destinations. The value of the bursary may be reduced subject to the results of the means test to be conducted by the Student Finance Office (SFO) of the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency (levels of reduction as set out in paragraph 3 below).
- The same means test formula will be adopted by the SFO as applicable to local tertiary students. There are five tiers of financial assistance based on the result of the income test, i.e. 100%, 75%, 50%, 25% and 15% for different Adjusted Family Income groups. The resulting amount will then be further reduced by the percentage (i.e. 100% (no assistance), 80%, 60%, 40%, 20% and 0% (no reduction of assistance)) set out against the net asset value per family member of the applicant under the asset test.
- In view of the fact that awardees will be away from Hong Kong during their studies, the means test will be conducted only once throughout the study rather than on an annual basis, unless the awardees encounter significant changes in their family circumstances which warrant reassessment.
- The value of the scholarship and bursary may be correspondingly reduced if an awardee also receives other awards to finance his/her same studies overseas.
- Only eligible applicants under a particular cohort who have been shortlisted for further consideration in the selection process and awardees of the HKSES for the previous cohorts are eligible for applying for means-tested bursary under the HKSES for that cohort. For details of the eligibility criteria of the HKSES, please refer to the section of “Eligibility” in this website at https://hkses.edb.gov.hk/en/abouts.html#eligibility.
- Only awardees of the HKSES who have passed the means test conducted by the SFO will receive means-tested bursary under the HKSES. Whether or not an awardee will pass the means test depends on the financial position of his/her family.
- Only those shortlisted applicants who have indicated their intention to apply for the means-tested bursary in their submitted application forms will be invited to submit application for the means-tested bursary. The EDB will later provide those applicants the relevant application form as well as the Guidance Notes and invite them to complete and submit the form, together with documentary proofs of their family income/assets, for assessment by the SFO.
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The completed application form together with photocopies of supporting documents should be returned to the EDB at the following address:
Education Bureau,
7/F, East Wing, Central Government Offices,
2 Tim Mei Avenue,
Tamar, Hong Kong
(Attn: Secretariat of the HKSES)EDB will then forward the application and documents to the SFO for processing.
- If you are bankrupt; and/or have applied for Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA); and/or aware that legal proceeding(s) has/have been started (or are pending or being threatened) against your bankruptcy or for the appointment of a receiver, administrator, administrative receiver, trustee or similar officer over any or all of your assets, you are obliged to notify the EDB in writing immediately.
- Completed application form and photocopies of supporting documents should reach the EDB on or before the application deadline as specified by the EDB. In general, the earlier you submit a complete set of applications and supporting documents, the earlier you will be notified of the application result. Applications received by the EDB after the application deadline will NOT be accepted save in exceptional circumstances. Applicants must give detailed justifications for their late application in writing for the EDB’s consideration.
- It is your responsibility to complete the application form fully and truthfully and submit all the relevant supporting documents. The SFO will rely on the information and documentary proofs provided in your application and the application(s) from your sibling(s) under Tertiary Student Finance Scheme - Publicly-funded Programmes (TSFS) / Financial Assistance Scheme for Post-secondary Students (FASP), if any, to determine the eligibility and the level of financial assistance to be offered under the HKSES. Any misrepresentation or omission or improperly filling in information in the application form in any one of the said application(s) may lead to rejection and/or full recovery of the financial assistance already offered to you and/or your sibling(s) and court proceedings. If you come from a family in receipt of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA), the SFO will assess your application on reliance of the documentary proof provided by you showing you or your family was in receipt of CSSA at the time of the submission of your application or received CSSA throughout the relevant assessment period (“CSSA status”). If it comes to the knowledge of the SFO that you or your family was obtaining / obtained CSSA by misrepresentation or provision of false information or omission of information or withholding any information or deceptive means or that your documentary proof contained inaccurate particulars to show you or your family’s CSSA status, your application may be rejected. You will be required to refund all student financial assistance you have received. You and your family may also be liable to prosecution. You are reminded that it is an offence to obtain property or pecuniary advantage by deception. Any person who does so commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction upon indictment to imprisonment for 10 years under the Theft Ordinance (Chapter 210 of the Laws of Hong Kong). You are also reminded that if any person being required or authorised by law to make any statement on oath for any purpose and being lawfully sworn (otherwise than in a judicial proceeding) wilfully makes a statement which is material for that purpose and which he knows to be false or does not believe to be true, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction upon indictment to imprisonment for 7 years and to a fine under the Crimes Ordinance (Chapter 200 of the Laws of Hong Kong).
- If you fail to report / provide the required information / supporting document(s) in / to the Application Form at the time of submitting your application, and the information / supporting document(s) is only reported / provided upon the EDB / SFO’s enquiry, this would be treated as a misrepresentation and/or omission in the application. Therefore, you have the responsibility to complete the Application Form in full details and submit all supporting documents. If there is misrepresentation or omission in the application, your application may be rejected.
- Please note that in the event of overpayment due to erroneous calculation or assessment, you are required to refund the overpaid amount and, if necessary, forfeit the amount that may be payable.
- Please check the personal data contained in the acknowledgement of receipt and the notification of result which will be issued to you upon receipt of your application and upon completion of the assessment of your application respectively. Should there be any discrepancies in the correspondence address and/or other personal data, you should notify the EDB immediately. Late notification will result in unnecessary delay in processing your application and payment of bursary.
- As a measure to verify the truthfulness and completeness of the information supplied, the SFO has a mechanism to counter-check successful applications, which may be in the form of home visits, bank search or other means. During these counter-checks, the SFO staff may need to seek clarifications/ additional information on the information already provided. They may also examine the originals of all the supporting documents. Applicants and their family members are requested to keep all related application documents and cooperate with the SFO staff. Intentional obstruction to the SFO staff in the course of their verification, concealment of information or failure to provide the information/clarification as required may lead to full recovery of the bursary already awarded and even court proceedings. If, after completion of the counter-checking exercise, the applicants and their family members are found to have seriously omitted/understated their family income and/or assets, the EDB will issue warning letters to the applicants and/or demand the applicants to partially/fully refund the bursary already awarded to them. Depending on the gravity of omission, the Government may institute court proceedings against the applicants and their family members.
- Any overpayment of the bursary made to you shall be refunded immediately upon demand.
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The current maximum amount of the means-tested bursary under the HKSES for each awardee is HK$200,000. The amount of the bursary to be granted to the awardee passing the means test conducted by the SFO will be determined by:
- the study destination of the awardee. There are different fixed levels of bursary amount for different study destinations. The EDB will decide on the level of bursary amount applicable to the individual awardees based on their specific study destinations; and
- the bursary discounting factor, if any, applicable to individual awardees pursuant to the results of the two-tier means test conducted by the SFO (details in paragraph 19 below).
The level of bursary will be subject to review by the Government from time to time at its absolute discretion.
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The bursary discounting factor applicable to the maximum amount of HK$200,000 of the bursary (subject to the different fixed levels of bursary amount for different study destinations set out in paragraph 18(a) above) for covering the living and study-related expenses of an awardee will be determined by a two-tier means test, details as follows-
- First, compare your Adjusted Family Income (AFI) against the “Ready Reckoner” to get the assistance percentage of bursary (i.e. 100%, 75%, 50%, 25% and 15% for different Adjusted Family Income groups). Then apply this assistance percentage to the fixed level of bursary applicable to the study destination of the awardee as determined by the EDB; and
- Second, compare the Net Asset Value of your family against the “Sliding Scale of Asset Value for Discounting Financial Assistance” to get the discounting percentage of bursary (i.e. 100% (no assistance), 80%, 60%, 40%, 20% and 0% (no reduction of assistance)). Then reduce the level of bursary calculated under paragraph 19(a) by this discounting percentage to get your final level of bursary.
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The “Ready Reckoner” under the AFI formula and the “Sliding Scale of Asset Value for Discounting Financial Assistance” will be attached as Appendices of the Guidance Notes which will be provided to the shortlisted applicants who have indicated their intention to apply for the means-tested bursary in their submitted application forms.
Example Your
Marital StatusAdjusted Family Income (AFI) (1) Not married and residing with your parents/siblings -
- The annual incomes (excluding contributions to mandatory provident funds (MPF)) of your parents earned in the concerned financial year;
- 30% of the annual incomes (excluding contributions to MPF) earned in the concerned financial year by your unmarried siblings who are residing with you and/or your parents; and
- Any other remittances/alimony/contributions (e.g. family/living/other expenses/contribution to rental expenses or mortgage repayment, etc.)/support to your family in the concerned financial year.
- LESS medical expenses of family members who are chronically ill or permanently incapacitated, subject to the production of receipts in the concerned financial year (expenses other than medical expenses cannot be deducted). The amount that may be deducted per family member is subject to a ceiling, which will be provided at the Guidance Notes. )
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DIVIDED by the number of members in your family plus a factor of “1” . Family members include :
- Yourself;
- Your parents;
- All your unmarried siblings residing with you and/or your parents; and
- Any dependent paternal or maternal grandparents residing with the family.
(2) Married and residing with your spouse and dependent children -
- The annual incomes (excluding contributions to MPF) of your spouse earned in the concerned financial year; and
- Any other remittances/alimony/contributions (e.g. family/living/other expenses/contribution to rental expenses or mortgage repayment, etc.)/support to your family in the concerned financial year.
- LESS medical expenses of family members who are chronically ill or permanently incapacitated, subject to the production of receipts in the concerned financial year (expenses other than medical expenses cannot be deducted). The amount that may be deducted per family member is subject to a ceiling, which will be provided at the Guidance Notes.)
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DIVIDED by the number of members in your family plus a factor of “1”. Family members include :
- Yourself;
- Your spouse; and
- Your dependent children.
(3) Separated / divorced / widowed and are residing with your children - Any other remittances/alimony/contributions (e.g. family/living/other expenses/contribution to rental expenses or mortgage repayment, etc.)/support to your family in the concerned financial year.
- LESS medical expenses of family members who are chronically ill or permanently incapacitated, subject to the production of receipts in the concerned financial year (expenses other than medical expenses cannot be deducted). The amount that may be deducted per family member is subject to a ceiling, which will be provided at the Guidance Notes.)
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DIVIDED by the number of members in your family plus a factor of “1”. Family members include :
- Yourself; and
- Your dependent children.
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- The “Net Asset Value per Family Member” is the net value of your family’s fixed assets and value of liquid assets (excluding the value of your family’s first home and the assets of your grandparents and siblings) divided by the actual number of family members. You need to declare the family’s assets and their value as at the end date of the concerned financial year in the application form. Debts of family members cannot be deducted from the total value of family assets.
- The SFO will make an assessment of your family income and assets and the number of family members based on the information reported in your application form and other information reported by your sibling(s), if any, under those financial assistance / loan schemes administered by the SFO before determining your eligibility and level of means-tested bursary under the HKSES. The SFO will normally accept reported information which is supported by documentary proofs. If proper documentary proofs cannot be provided or the documents provided cannot substantiate the reported income/ asset information of the family concerned (e.g. claim for prolonged unemployment is not substantiated or only self-written statement of income is provided), the SFO may need to make adjustments and apply benchmark figures based on the statistical information provided by the relevant government departments, such as the Census and Statistics Department, the Rating and Valuation Department and the Transport Department, etc., to assess the income and/or net value of the assets held by the family members concerned. The SFO may apply projected figures in the assessment of family income if necessary.
- If necessary, arrangements will be made for you and your father or mother or spouse to come to the SFO for an interview. You will be required to bring to the interview for our examination all the originals of the supporting documents, such as all bankbooks and receipts for medical expenses. Before the interview, your father or mother or spouse will be required to make a declaration at the SFO in accordance with the Oaths and Declarations Ordinance (Chapter 11 of the Laws of Hong Kong) to declare that the information given in the application is true and complete. During interview, the SFO staff may need to seek clarifications / additional information on the information already provided.
- Upon receiving your application form, the EDB will issue an “Acknowledgement of Receipt” to you to confirm that your application has reached us.
- In general, if the information you provide is complete, you will be notified of the application result within about one to two months from the date of acknowledging receipt of your application. However, the processing time will vary, depending on the particular circumstances of individual applications. If the information provided is incomplete or inconsistent, the SFO will require you to clarify the discrepancy or provide supplementary information. This will result in prolonged processing time of your application, and hence it may not be possible for the EDB to disburse the means-tested bursary (if any) to you before you commence your study overseas in the concerned academic year.
- The means-tested bursary under the HKSES, if any, is calculated in accordance with the result of the means test conducted by the SFO (please refer to paragraph 19 above for details). The approved bursary is conditional upon your award and acceptance of the non-means-tested scholarship under the HKSES by submitting to the EDB duly completed, signed and attested undertakings and other required documents on or before the specified deadline.
- Payment of both the non-means-tested scholarship and means-tested bursary is subject to your acceptance of the scholarship and enrollment as a registered full-time student and taking up a full-time undergraduate/postgraduate programme in a world renowned university/institution as stated in your application for the HKSES and endorsed by the HKSES Secretariat commencing from the concerned academic year.
- If you do not submit the duly completed and signed undertakings and other required documents to the EDB for the acceptance of scholarship and bursary offered under the HKSES by the stipulated deadline, the EDB shall assume that you do not wish to accept the scholarship and bursary, and the scholarship and bursary offered to you will be automatically cancelled.
- The EDB or SFO will review the application and adjust your entitlements of bursary, if necessary. In the event that there is overpayment of bursary, you will be required to refund in one lump sum the overpaid amount to the EDB.
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If you have sufficient grounds/justifications for application for adjusting the amount of bursary offered (e.g. substantial change in the financial circumstances of your family after submission of your application which may significantly affect the financial support you receive from your family), you may apply for a review of the level of bursary within three weeks from the date of notification of result. Each applicant may only request for a review once. You should give sufficient reasons together with the documentary evidence in support of your application for review. Such request for review should be lodged with the EDB at the following address:
Education Bureau,
7/F, East Wing, Central Government Offices,
2 Tim Mei Avenue,
Tamar, Hong Kong
(Attn: Secretariat of the HKSES) - In general, you will be notified of the review result within 10 weeks from the date of the EDB’s acknowledging receipt of your application for review. However, the processing time will be longer if (a) the information provided is incomplete and the EDB or SFO requires you to give further explanation or provide supplementary information; or (b) the case has to be considered exceptionally for flexible treatment in view of the special financial circumstances involved.
- You may choose to accept the bursary first without waiting for the result of your application for review. Should you do so and if the level of bursary after review is higher than the original offer, the EDB will arrange to pay you the difference. On the other hand, if subsequent processing of your application for review indicates that the amount of bursary offered in the original assessment was higher than your actual entitlement, you will be required to refund to the EDB the overpaid amount upon request.
- Recipients of the scholarship and bursary (if any) under the HKSES are required to complete the specific study programmes and undertake to return to Hong Kong upon graduation to work for at least two years or a period equivalent to the duration of receiving the proposed scholarship, whichever is longer. However, the EDB will have the flexibility to decide, upon application on a case-by-case basis, whether the requirement to undertake to return to and work in Hong Kong could be suitably deferred or waived under exceptional circumstances.
- In the event of failure to comply with the requirement and/or undertaking mentioned in paragraph 33 above, the recipients of the scholarship and bursary (if any) concerned will be asked to repay the amount of monies disbursed (including both the non-means tested part and means-tested part, if any) in full or on a pro-rata basis, as the case may be. The monies shall be repaid in one lump sum without interest or by 40/60 equal quarterly instalments with interest at 1% per annum within a period of 10/15 years.
- For repayment of scholarship and bursary (applicable to those as mentioned in paragraph 34 above), please refer to the terms and conditions as stated in the offer letter of scholarship to be issued by EDB to all awardees under the HKSES.
- A reference table on repayment of scholarship and bursary will be attached as Appendix at the Guidance Notes.
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You are obliged to provide all the required information in the application, including your personal data and those of your family members. Moreover, in accordance with Section 3.2.1.2 of the Code of Practice on Identity Card Number and other Personal Identifiers issued by the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, you are requested to furnish the EDB with copies of your own Hong Kong Identity Card and that of your parents (or spouse) and other family members. If you fail to provide the required information / documents, the EDB and SFO will not be able to process your application. The personal data provided in the application form and any supplementary information as required will be used by the EDB, SFO, other Government bureaux and departments or non-Government organisations or bodies in relation to the following activities:
(a) Processing and counter-checking of your application for means-tested bursary under the HKSES and your sibling’s / siblings’ application(s) for financial assistance / loan schemes administered by the SFO, if any. (b) Recovery of overpayment(s) of bursary, overdue repayment(s) and any cost(s) arising therefrom, if any. (c) Administration of your bursary account maintained by the Government. (d) Matching of the personal data provided against other databases as may be required. (e) Detection of fraud. (f) Statistics and researches. -
The personal data and supplementary information provided in your application and other supplementary documents provided upon the request of the EDB and SFO may be disclosed to other Government bureaux and departments, or non-Government organisations or bodies, or the institution where you intend to commence study in the concerned academic year (your institution):
(a) for the purposes mentioned in paragraph 37 above and where all the parties have given their consent to such disclosure; or (b) if such disclosure is authorised or required by law. - If necessary, the EDB or SFO will contact your institution, other government departments and organisations (including the employers of your family members) to obtain any information of you and your family members for the purposes mentioned in paragraph 37 above.
- If necessary, the EDB or SFO will contact you, your parents (or spouse, if applicable) and/or other family members direct to verify the personal data provided in your application for the purposes mentioned in paragraph 37 above.
- In accordance with Sections 18 and 22 and Principle 6 of Schedule 1 of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Chapter 486 of the Laws of Hong Kong), you have the right to request access to and correction of the personal data supplied in your application.
- Completed applications and supporting documents, once submitted, are not returnable. You are advised to retain a copy for your own reference.
- Enquiries concerning the personal data provided in the applications and requests for the correction of such data should be made to the HKSES Secretariat at the EDB at 7/F, East Wing, Central Government Offices, 2 Tim Mei Avenue, Tamar, Hong Kong (Fax No: 2804 6499).
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For enquiries, please contact:
Subject of the enquiry Manned enquiry numbers (Office hours) Fax Numbers Email Address Address Operational details of the HKSES 3509 7395 2804 6499 hkses@edb.gov.hk Education Bureau,
7/F, East Wing, Central Government Offices,
2 Tim Mei Avenue,
Tamar, Hong Kong
(Attn: Secretariat of the HKSES)Means test conducted by the SFO in respect of the means-tested bursary under the HKSES 2152 9000 2157 9520 wg_sfo@wfsfaa.gov.hk Student Finance Office of the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency,
Room 403, 4/F,
Trade and Industry Tower,
3 Concorde Road, Kai Tak, Kowloon -
The office hours of the EDB and SFO are:
Mondays to Fridays
9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. (for EDB)
8:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. (for SFO)
