Calendar 2010–11

The University Part 1 About one quarter of the government’s annual allocation to the University in the form of block grants goes directly or indirectly to research. The University also relies heavily on different external funding sources to support research activities. The Research Grants Council remains the major sponsor of research. In the 2009–10 exercise, CUHK staff secured some HK$127 million in the form of competitive grants. The high quality of research is also reflected in the many papers published in international and local refereed journals. Other major sources of funding are the Quality Education Fund, the Innovation and Technology Fund, the Health and Health Services Research Fund, the Health Care and Promotion Fund, the Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Diseases, and various private donations. The University’s Research Committee is one of the main bodies responsible for allocating internal funding for research. It is supported by eight subject panels, each consisting of up to 20 experienced researchers. In addition to allocation of research funding, it is also charged with the responsibility of evaluating and recommending project proposals for external grant applications. It is supported by the Research Administration Office, which is responsible for research administration as well as for implementation of policies for the enhancement of the University’s research portfolio. The Technology Licensing Office is the primary office with responsibility for technology transfer and management of intellectual property rights arising from research activities. The recent years saw a rapid increase in technology transfer activities at the University. More and more technologies developed by CUHK have been adopted by industries. As of May 2010, CUHK and its staff have secured over 228 patents that cover major jurisdictions worldwide. These patents have been actively licensed and resulted in a licence rate of 40% that compares favourably against the accepted rate of 30% for university licensing. Finance Funding from the Hong Kong SAR government is the main source of income and constitutes 66% of the University’s revenue for capital and recurrent expenses. Income from tuition, programme and other fee, being the next important source of revenue, accounts for 27% of total income. In addition, the University and its constituent Colleges have endowment funds at their disposal and also receive financial support from private donors for research and other designated purposes. The annual total income for the University is about HK$4.4 billion. Negotiations between the University and the government are conducted through UGC, which is the committee advising the government on the financial requirements of the University.