Hong Kong Future Talents Scholarship Scheme for Advanced Studies (for Local Students)

Background

1.    The Government introduced the Hong Kong Future Talents Scholarship Scheme for Advanced Studies (FTSS) starting from the 2025/26 academic year to attract meritorious local students to pursue advanced studies in priority areas conducive to the development of Hong Kong and expand the pool of high-calibre talents for various domains, while further promoting the development of our city into an international hub for post-secondary education.

Eligible Master's Programmes

2.   The following programmes are eligible for FTSS:

Eligibility

3.1    Local students who are admitted to the eligible programmes in full-time, part-time or combined study mode may be invited to submit applications for the scholarships. To avoid “double benefit”, students who have received/are receiving other forms of government scholarship for pursuing the same programme, including the Continuing Education Fund (except student financial assistance), or who have been awarded a fellowship under the Targeted Taught Postgraduate Programmes Fellowships Scheme for another programme, are not eligible to apply.  

3.2   Students receiving financial support for the purpose of meeting tuition fee expenses from other sources should declare and provide relevant details to the University. If the sum of such financial support and the scholarship award exceeds the tuition fee level, the amount of scholarship will be reduced accordingly to ensure that the student would not receive financial support in excess of the tuition fee to safeguard the effective use of public money.

3.3   The definitions of local/non-local status of applicants are available under the Notes for Applicants on master’s admission website: https://www.cityu.edu.hk/pg/taught-postgraduate-programmes/apply-now#info_non-local.

Duration and Amount of Scholarships

4.    The scholarship recipients are required to pay a minimum tuition fee being the prevailing rate of UGC-funded full-time degree programmes [i.e. HK$44,500 (for 2025/26 Academic Year) and HK$47,000 (for 2026/27 Academic Year)], and the differences will be subsidized by the scholarships subject to a cap of HK$100,000 for each student regardless of the actual study period of the programme and mode of study. The scholarship will be used for the settlement of the tuition fee only, and will cover the tuition fee for the minimum number of credits required by the programme for graduation.

For example, if the total tuition fee for a designated programme for the 2026/27 academic year exceeds HK$147,000, the remaining balance after deducting the maximum amount of scholarship (i.e. HK$100,000) shall be borne by the student. If the total tuition fee of a programme is HK$100,000 or below, the student will only need to pay HK$47,000 as tuition fee, with the remainder covered by the scholarship.

Criteria for Assessment

5.    The award of the scholarship will be merit-based, taking into account the applicants' academic achievements, professional attainment, work experience, interview results and other programme-specific criteria (refer to point 8) as well as their personal statement/proposal on how they will contribute to the priority areas of Hong Kong and their commitment to contribute to the relevant industries or sectors in Hong Kong or within the Greater Bay Area after completing the programme concerned. 

Requirement of Ongoing Study Performance

6.    Successful applicants for the scholarships are expected to achieve a minimum CGPA of 3.0 in each semester of studies. The award of the scholarships may cease and they may be required to refund the full amount of the scholarships received if they fail to attain the specified level of performance.

Scholarship Awardee’s Contribution after Graduation

7.   Every scholarship awardee is required to submit a mandatory return no later than 12 months after the end of his/her last semester of studies under the relevant master’s programme, with (i) (for full-time employment) specific information on at least the name of employer, position held, job nature and salary level of the scholarship awardee or (for entrepreneurial activities) company name with business registration number, description of business nature and details of entrepreneurial activities conducted, as well as (ii) a one-page summary of the awardee’s contributions to Hong Kong after graduation and its relationship to the master’s programme pursued.

Programme-specific Documentation Requirement

8.     The following documents are required by the respective programmes for consideration of the scholarships:

Application Procedures

9.   Applications may only be submitted by those who receive an invitation. They are required to upload the completed application form together with all the required supporting documents to their online application account. Shortlisted applicants may be invited by the academic unit to attend an interview as part of the selection process. For enquiries, please contact the academic unit concerned directly. Applications will be processed on a rolling basis and applicants will be notified of the selection results normally in late July 2026.

For more details of FTSS, please visit UGC website.

(Last Updated on 27 January 2026)