The eight institutions funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC) will have more resources at their disposal next year, thanks to the Research Grants Council's (RGC) decision to increase the annual Competitive Earmarked Research Grant (CERG) for 2006-07.

CERG accepted to grant HK$489.3 million of the HK$1,759 million sought by the eight institutions - 21 per cent more than the amount for last year (HK$404.6 million).

A total of 836 projects would be supported by the funds compared to 734 last year, a 14 per cent increase. Also, the overall success of the projects rose to 42 per cent.

Engineering disciplines accounted for 327 of the funded projects, while Biology and Humanity had 185 and 167, respectively.

Describing the funds as "a generous support", RGC Chairman Professor Roland Chin said: "Overall, the council is very impressed by the quality and diversity of the research proposals."

Among the institutions receiving funds, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) would get HK$145.6 million, HK$81.2 million would go into its biology and medicine projects, the largest amount allocated to a discipline.

The second largest amount, HK$42.1 million, was claimed by the engineering department of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. It was also more than one-fourth of the total amount the discipline was allocated overall.

In contrast, Lingnan University will receive a small amount of HK$2.3 million for five projects.

The result of the second round of the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme (PPRFS) was also announced yesterday.

Sixteen projects worth HK$7.1 million were accepted.

The projects covered a wide spectrum such as educational inequality, policy in support of family, urban planning, ageing population and the healthcare system.

(China Daily July 3, 2006)