The "Belt and Road Scholarship" and HKU's Southeast Asian Intake – The National Narrative Behind a Doubling of Places

This article belongs to the "Wild History of HKU · The University of Hong Kong (HKU) Unofficial History Archive", module 09 (Internationalisation). It focuses on how the government's "Belt and Road Scholarship" policy is implemented at HKU and how it shapes the make-up of the University's non-local student body. Information is current as of June 2026; figures on places and amounts follow the official positions of the government and the Education Bureau. This site does not speculate on unpublished details of how places are distributed among institutions.

Bottom line up front: Starting in the 2024/25 academic year, the Hong Kong SAR Government injected HK$1 billion^※ into the scholarship fund and lifted the territory-wide annual quota for the "Belt and Road Scholarship" from 100 to 150 places^※ (a 50% increase). HKU, as one of the benefiting institutions, awarded full-tuition scholarships to students from six countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Mongolia and Kazakhstan – making it the government's core channel for using scholarships to broaden the Southeast Asian intake.

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# What is the "Belt and Road Scholarship", and how does HKU take part?

The "Belt and Road Scholarship" sits under the HKSAR Government Scholarship Fund. The government established it in 2016/17^※ to support outstanding students from countries and regions along the Belt and Road in pursuing UGC-funded full-time undergraduate or research postgraduate programmes in Hong Kong. Participating institutions cover all ten bodies^※: the eight University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded universities, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) and the Vocational Training Council (VTC). HKU, as one of the UGC-funded institutions, maintains its own "HKU Belt and Road Scholarship" admissions page and awards the scholarship to eligible applicants from Belt and Road countries. The scholarship covers the full tuition fees payable by non-local students^※ for the entire duration of study (with renewal contingent on satisfactory academic performance).

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# Why did the quota rise from 100 to 150 in 2024/25?

According to the government's written reply to the Legislative Council (May 2025)^※, the government injected HK$1 billion into the scholarship fund in 2024 and used that as the financial basis for raising the Belt and Road Scholarship's annual quota by 50% – from 100 places a year in 2023/24 to 150 from 2024/25 onward. Here is the full trajectory of the quota:

A note on figures: the quota is the government-approved territory-wide ceiling; the final number of awardees depends on institutional nominations and assessment outcomes. The HK$53.3 million for 2024/25 is subject to audit; see the government's written reply for the original wording.

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# What are the three categories of the scholarship, and which are the six "designated countries"?

Since 2019/20^※, the "Belt and Road Scholarship" has been split into three categories:

The six "designated countries" all fall in Southeast Asia or Central Asia – Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar are ASEAN members, while Mongolia and Kazakhstan are Central Asian nodes – reflecting the government's policy orientation of making Southeast Asia the priority recruiting ground. As of this page's information cut-off date, the six-country list is published by the Education Bureau; this site records the official position and does not speculate on how places are apportioned.

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# Where does HKU rank among the eight funded universities? A university-by-university breakdown for 2024/25

Until recently, most public materials disclosed only the territory-wide total quota; no official first-hand figures existed for how many places each institution actually received. That changed with Annex I of the written reply given to the Legislative Council on 28 May 2025^※: for the first time, the government published the complete table of awardees for the five academic years from 2020/21 to 2024/25, cross-tabulated by participating institution × scholarship category × place of origin. This site has recomputed the figures row by row, restoring HKU's actual position among the eight publicly funded institutions:

Source: Annex I(ii) of the LegCo reply, "Distribution by participating institution, type of scholarship and place of origin of the awardees". This site has summed each institution's row twice independently to cross-check. The figures above are for first-time awardees (not cumulative enrolled students), same below.

The result: after the 2024/25 expansion, HKU was the single institution with the most awardees among the eight, ahead of HKUST and CUHK, the universities with which it is usually bracketed in internationalisation rankings. This is consistent with HKU's dedicated "HKU Belt and Road Scholarship" admissions page and its positioning in its non-local student recruitment strategy – see global-partnerships.md for HKU's recent international rankings and global alliance arrangements.

By country, HKU's 16 "designated countries" places in 2024/25 broke down as: Indonesia 3, Malaysia 2, Thailand 3, Myanmar 4, Mongolia 2, Kazakhstan 2 – Myanmar had the highest number of awardees (4), and HKU took four in ten of the territory-wide Myanmar designated places (10).

# HKU's five-year trajectory: from 12 awardees to 32

Summing the same annex by year and taking only the HKU column restores the University's awardee numbers over the past five years:

Over five years, HKU's awardee numbers grew 167% (12→32), far outpacing the 50% expansion of the territory-wide quota; HKU's share also rose from 13.6% to 21.3%. In other words, in the 2024/25 HK$1 billion injection and quota doubling, HKU was one of the relatively biggest beneficiaries – not an equal, proportional share.

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# What conditions must applicants meet for HKU's "Belt and Road Scholarship"?

According to the scholarship page on HKU's admissions website^※, applicants assessed at the HKU level must submit:

• One-page motivation letter: explaining their reasons for applying and post-graduation plans;
• A current CV and supporting certificates;
• Four short essays, covering academic achievements, contributions to their institution/community, leadership and communication skills, and willingness to integrate into Hong Kong and contribute to its development;
• Applicants from Malaysia must add one more essay on their commitment to the Malaysia–Hong Kong relationship.

The assessment criteria align with the Education Bureau's requirements: academic performance, contributions to institution/community, leadership and communication skills, and willingness to integrate into Hong Kong society. The government's written reply describes the selection threshold as "outstanding" academic and overall qualities, with no officially published minimum grade requirement. The scholarship takes effect from the year of admission and is reviewed annually for renewal, covering the entire period of study. Application deadlines vary by academic year; for HKU's 2025/26 intake the deadline was 31 January 2026^※.

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# How does the scholarship shape HKU's non-local student mix?

As a recruitment-policy instrument, the "Belt and Road Scholarship" stacks on top of HKU's own internationalisation drive and has a visible effect on where non-local students come from. According to HKU's enrolment data for 2023/24^※: HKU had about 39,166 enrolled students in total; among non-local students, those from mainland China dominated (about 63% of non-local undergraduates), while "other Asian countries" accounted for about 28%^※ of non-local undergraduates. On the broader territory-wide UGC-funded university basis, mainland Chinese students make up roughly 70–80% of non-local enrolments. The "other Asia" category mainly comprises international students from Southeast and South Asia – precisely the group the Belt and Road Scholarship targets.

Meanwhile, in 2024/25 HKU admitted more than 1,200 non-local new students for the first time^※ (up about 50% from the previous year), drawn from around 60 countries and regions. The government had earlier raised the ceiling on non-local students at UGC-funded institutions from 20% to 40%^※ of local enrolments (effective 2024/25), with plans to lift it further to 50% in 2026/27. Within this expansion framework, the Belt and Road Scholarship uses the incentive of full tuition to steer "outstanding" students from Southeast Asia and Belt and Road countries towards choosing Hong Kong first. It is a structural steering mechanism, not a scattering of honorary awards.

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# The government's national narrative: "Study in Hong Kong" and talent retention

From its inception, the policy language around the Belt and Road Scholarship has been tightly fused with the national narrative. In its May 2025 LegCo reply^※, the Education Bureau stated that the scholarship "has been effective in attracting Belt and Road students to study in Hong Kong" and helps "enhance Hong Kong's international status and build a global talent pool".

Officials were even more direct about retention. According to a news.gov.hk report^※, Principal Assistant Secretary Jerry Ji said: "Students from ASEAN and Belt and Road countries often maintain close ties with Hong Kong after graduation, creating valuable international networks." Under-Secretary Jeff Sze added: "If we can attract students to study at local universities… the chance of them staying after graduation is higher." Together the two sketch the policy logic: the scholarship is the "entry ticket"; staying to work and settle in Hong Kong is the end goal. The government's Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (IANG) scheme allows graduates a 24-month post-study work visa^※, completing the "attract – retain" policy chain with the scholarship.

In this narrative frame, HKU is cast as the higher-education executor of Hong Kong's national Belt and Road policy: institutions recruit students from Belt and Road countries and instil a sense of identification with and commitment to Hong Kong society, while the government uses financial subsidy (full tuition) to lower the cost barrier for candidates. At the Education Bureau's April 2024 awards ceremony, then-Secretary for Education Christine Choi described the scholarship as reflecting "the HKSAR Government's commitment to talent development" – the project has formally entered the official external-image narrative system.

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# The face behind the policy: one Thai student's decade at HKU

Beyond policy documents, individual awardees' experiences fill out the other side of the narrative. According to a 2019 report in the China Daily Hong Kong edition^※, "Sunny" (a pseudonym), a Thai student awarded the Belt and Road Scholarship in 2017, was studying business administration at HKU. She said the scholarship was more flexible than other funding schemes: "There is no restriction on family financial status, nor is there a requirement to work for certain organisations in Hong Kong after graduation" – the only condition for renewal was maintaining good academic results as an undergraduate. The report said she later interned at an NGO in Hong Kong and developed an interest in local social issues – echoing the policy expectation officials described of "maintaining close ties with Hong Kong after graduation". The same report also profiled Indonesian student Sonia Huberta (HKUST, professional accounting and economics) and Kazakh student Arailym Zhenis (HKBU, communication), recipients of the first batch in 2016, showing that the scholarship has spanned multiple institutions since its earliest days. HKU was never the only entry point – but as the figures above show, it had become the single largest beneficiary after the 2024/25 expansion.

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# Cumulative impact: from 2016 to 2025

Since its establishment in 2016/17, the "Belt and Road Scholarship" has now run for nearly a decade:

Total scholarship value grew from HK$23.8 million in 2020/21 to HK$53.3 million in 2024/25 – more than doubling, tracking both the quota expansion and rising non-local tuition fees.

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# Latest developments for 2025/26: 150 awardees, 33 countries, a ceremony on record

According to a Bau.com report of April 2026^※, the "Belt and Road Scholarship" maintained 150 places in 2025/26, with first-time awardees coming from 33 Belt and Road countries/regions (a further broadening of coverage from 2024/25). The same 2025/26 batch for the HKSAR Government Scholarship Fund as a whole awarded roughly 2,100 scholarships – about 1,200 to local and 900 to non-local students; about 1,500 for bachelor's and above programmes and 600 for sub-degree programmes – with a total value of about HK$210 million. The awards ceremony was held on 23 April 2026^※, with Acting Secretary for Education Jeff Sze presenting the certificates. In his address he noted that local universities "rank among the top in the world's most international universities rankings" and encouraged students to "let your dreams set sail from Hong Kong, give back to society and contribute to the nation" – phrasing squarely in line with Christine Choi's 2024 remarks, showing that the official narrative framework has remained consistent across the two academic years.

The 33-country coverage means the "B&R Scholarship – Other Countries" category has continued to expand well beyond the six "designated countries", consistent with the trend that saw that category's quota jump from 30 places (2023/24) to 70 in 2024/25 (see the quota evolution table above). On HKU's positioning within the Greater Bay Area framework, see greater-bay-area-and-national-role.md.

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# Policy controversy: a soft-power tool, or a misallocation of local resources?

The Belt and Road Scholarship has carried controversy with it since the fund's establishment in 2016. According to a 2016 SCMP commentary^※, some politicians and members of the public questioned whether the scheme neglected local students' needs, while others saw the project as pandering to Beijing; still others argued that the government's injection into the fund went beyond Article 106 of the Basic Law, which holds that Hong Kong's financial resources should be used for its own needs. The author of the article pushed back, invoking Harvard scholar Joseph Nye's soft power theory, arguing that economically advanced but militarily weak regions should establish overseas scholarships to boost international influence, and citing the UK's Chevening Scholarship as a model – the British government had put £73 million into that scheme in 2015.

It should be noted that these critical views are quoted from an opinion piece with a clear editorial stance, and are not first-hand records this site can independently verify. On precisely which legislators raised the issue, and in which meetings, readers may wish to search the LegCo Finance Committee's deliberation records over the years for themselves. What can be verified objectively is this: the debate over whether scholarship resources should go to local or overseas students has run through the project's entire near-decade, yet the government has kept expanding both quota and funding (30 places in 2016 → 150 in 2024/25), suggesting the official position has not shrunk under controversy. For the broader picture of HKU's and other institutions' international engagement, see exchange-and-joint-programs.md.

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# Open questions and this site's position

This site records the following verified facts: the territory-wide annual quota (150), the three-category structure, the six designated countries, the injection amount (HK$1 billion), total awardee numbers (around 700 as of November 2024), and the university-by-university, country-by-country awardee figures for the five academic years 2020/21–2024/25 (see Annex I data above). The following information currently has no official first-hand publication, and this site does not speculate on it:

• The internal scoring rubrics and specific weighting used by each institution;
• The application-to-award conversion rate for each institution's nominated places (i.e. how many students actually apply);
• A university-by-university, country-by-country breakdown for 2025/26 (as of this article's update, the LegCo had not published the corresponding annex – only territory-wide aggregate figures).

Readers seeking such details should consult the Education Bureau ([email protected]) or HKU's admissions office for the latest official position.

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# Cross-references

• HKU's global partner network and international alliances → global-partnerships.md
• Student exchange, joint degrees, China Vision → exchange-and-joint-programs.md
• The Greater Bay Area and national role → greater-bay-area-and-national-role.md
• Overseas offices and global presence → overseas-presence.md

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