Reaching Out to the Next Generation
          
        
        
          The 2013 HKUST Information Day attracted over
        
        
          30,000 visitors from the secondary school sector, while
        
        
          a JUPAS admission briefing session was organized for
        
        
          local secondary school teachers in November 2013 to
        
        
          share the University’s experience on the admission of
        
        
          the first two HKDSE cohorts.
        
        
          President Chan hosted two luncheons for local
        
        
          secondary school principals and teachers and Hong
        
        
          Kong-based international secondary school principals
        
        
          and teachers respectively. Briefing sessions were also
        
        
          held for parents of international schools in Hong Kong.
        
        
          Following last year’s successful visit, a second group
        
        
          of teachers from notable French high schools visited
        
        
          the campus to experience HKUST life and encourage
        
        
          students to apply to the University.
        
        
          
            POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION
          
        
        
          The postgraduate student population saw overall
        
        
          growth of 7.6%, compared with the previous year, with
        
        
          a total headcount of 4,242, as of 31 December 2013.
        
        
          Growth was seen in both research postgraduates and
        
        
          taught postgraduates. Recognition of HKUST’s standing
        
        
          in the research community was further demonstrated
        
        
          by its continuing success in the Hong Kong PhD
        
        
          Fellowship Scheme. The University received the largest
        
        
          number of awards among institutions, securing 65 out
        
        
          of a total of 223 across Hong Kong, representing 29%
        
        
          of the awards offered.
        
        
          The Joint School of Sustainable Development, a
        
        
          collaboration between HKUST and Xi’an Jiaotong
        
        
          University, saw its first cohort of research students
        
        
          start their studies. A total of 27 students are involved
        
        
          in the program.
        
        
          
            Research Student Support
          
        
        
          A new matching-fund scheme was launched in
        
        
          2013-14 to encourage recruitment of local research
        
        
          postgraduates. Meanwhile, the percentage of
        
        
          international students among non-local research
        
        
          postgraduates continued to increase, reaching 10%
        
        
          in 2013-14. Another matching-fund scheme for
        
        
          international visiting internship students was launched
        
        
          in Spring 2014 to draw students from a select group
        
        
          of institutions to HKUST to encourage them to pursue
        
        
          research postgraduate studies at the University. The
        
        
          new scheme helped the University receive 109 visiting
        
        
          internship students in 2013-14, up from 64 the
        
        
          previous year.
        
        
          To enhance professional knowledge, ethical standards,
        
        
          and transferrable skills of research postgraduates, a
        
        
          required Professional Development Course (PDC) was
        
        
          introduced from Fall 2013. The Overseas Research
        
        
          Awards Scheme increased from 24 to 36 awards,
        
        
          offering senior PhD students the valuable experience
        
        
          to participate in research work abroad. Attendance at
        
        
          conferences also continued to be supported through
        
        
          the research travel grant program.
        
        
          
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          EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT