The HKSAR Government has provided a tuition waiver and a non-means-tested tuition waiver to all local students enrolled in UGC-funded FT RPg programmes with effect from the 2018/19 academic year. Details of the Scheme are available at the University Grants Committee’s webpage at http://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/funding_opport/tws.html.
According to the definition of the Education Bureau of the HKSAR Government, local students are holders of the following documents:
- Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card
- Documents issued by the Immigration Department showing right to land/right of abode in Hong Kong
- One-way Permit for entry to Hong Kong
- FT employment visa/work permit
- Dependent visa/entry permit (for students who were below 18 years old when they were issued with such visa/entry permit by the Immigration Department)
- Visa/Entry permit for Quality Migrant Admission Scheme
- Visa/Entry permit for Capital Investment Entrant Scheme
- Visa/Entry permit for Admission Scheme for the Second Generation of Chinese Hong Kong Permanent Residents
- Visa label for unconditional stay
Despite the fact that students holding a FT employment visa/work permit (i.e. item 4 above) are regarded as local students, they are not allowed to take up a FT job and study a FT programme in Hong Kong at the same time. They can only study a PT programme in Hong Kong. Thus students holding a FT employment visa/work permit are not eligible for the tuition waiver scheme for local RPg students offered by the HKSAR Government.
For RPg students enrolling in UGC-funded FT RPg programmes and having their status changed from “non-local student” to “local student” within a semester, they will be eligible for the tuition fee waiver starting from the next semester provided that they have updated their student records by presenting the valid documents (see items 1-9 above).
RPg students admitted from the 2018/19 cohort onwards should contact the AR direct at Room M101, Li Ka Shing Tower and inform GS of the change by email at gs.matters@polyu.edu.hk while those admitted in or before 2017/18 cohort should contact the GS direct.
The GS will then liaise with the FO to suspend charging their tuition fees and to issue debit notes for tuition fees with a zero amount starting from the next semester till end of their normal period of study.