HKSAR Government Talent Development Scholarship (TDS) 2024-25 (Deadline: 14 January 2025)

Scholarships

27 DEC 2024 - 14 JAN 2025

In order to encourage students to develop their talents in other areas in addition to their academic study, the Talent Development Scholarship (TDS) was established by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government to give recognition to students who have demonstrated achievement or talent in non-academic areas and provide support for them to further develop their talent and potential.

 

ELIGIBILITY

For 2024-25, up to 100 Talent Development Scholarship awards at HK$10,000 each will be awarded to current full-time local and non-local publicly-funded degree or above level students studying in any discipline, but exclude exchange students not studying a full degree or above programme in Hong Kong. Awardees should have demonstrated talent or potential in at least one of the following areas:

  • (i) Sports and games;
  • (ii) Music and performing arts;
  • (iii) Culture, arts and design; or
  • (iv) Innovation, science and technology

To be eligible for the TDS, applicants should have attained a cGPA of 2.50 or above after the first semester of 2024-25. Applicants are not required to indicate their cGPA in the application form. SFA Unit will check it out after the closing date. In addition, applicants should possess demonstrated achievements during the period from 1 January 2021 to present in any of the areas mentioned above and continuously striving for improvement and excellence, and should at least –

  • (a) receive an award in national or regional competitions / performances; or represent institution or relevant association in such competitions / performances and have good recommendation / assessment by the institution or relevant organization on the capability or talent; or
  • (b) receive an award (except commendable award in recognition of participation) in local/ inter-school/ inter-institution competitions.

The activities should have already been held and where students have demonstrated significant achievements. Activities in progress or to be held will not be considered.

It is important to note that some activities alone only serve as evidence of active participation and striving for improvement and excellence in a certain non-academic talent. Students who only participate in these activities should NOT be awarded TDS. These activities include:

  • (a) Being a team member/ committee member of a school team/ club/ society
  • (b) Intra-school/ intra-institution activities
  • (c) Work-related activities (e.g. internship/ helpers or workers of an event etc.) or activities which form part of the academic requirements
  • (d) All types of examinations (e.g. ABRSM Exams, SAT, ACCA Exams etc.) 
  • (e) Language proficiency/ trade tests (e.g. IELTS, TOEFL etc.)

A student may be awarded the TDS more than once throughout his/her studies of the relevant programme, and each nomination will be considered based on individual merits. Therefore, students who were awarded the TDS before must be able to provide new evidence of award(s) and achievement(s) attained after receiving the previous TDS award. However, due to limited quota and keen competition, priority will be given to students who have never received TDS during their studies at HKBU.

In addition, as stipulated by the HKSAR Education Bureau, students enrolled in dual/joint Bachelor’s degree programmes could not receive any government scholarships including TDS during their offshore study period.

 


APPLICATION

Step I - Complete the online application form before the deadline 14 January 2025 (Tuesday), print or save the completed form as a PDF.

Applicants are obliged to examine if their activities/achievements are already on the below lists of approved activities for TDS which have been approved by the HKSAR Education Bureau (EDB), and input the corresponding Reference Code in their online application form.

If the activity/achievement is not on the lists, applicant are required to provide the website and details of the activity/achievement for EDB's consideration. Please make sure that the website is valid and contains the required information such as the entry requirements, selection mechanism, category/number of awards distributed, etc. Your achievement may not be considered if the required information is not provided.

Note that having an approved activity/achievement does not guarantee the award of TDS as competition is required for the limited awards. Level/scale of activity and award/achievement obtained will be considered in the award allocation, while an appropriate balance will be maintained in allocating the awards among the four categories of talents.

Step II - Submit the PDF form and supporting documents before the deadline 14 January 2025 (Tuesday).

  1. Scan your documentary proofs as PDF and make sure they are clear and legible. Any parts that are missing, unclear, and incomprehensible will NOT be considered. (Note: photos of the medal or trophy without the recipient's name printed on them, as well as photos taken during the competition, are not considered sufficient as supporting proof. Instead, you should provide additional evidence such as a certification letter issued by the organizer or coach, or any relevant documents (e.g., membership card, webpage, SLES record) that demonstrate your membership in the winning team.)
  2. Combine your application form and all supporting documents as ONE (1) PDF file, and arrange them in proper order.
  3. Try to keep the PDF file size under 15MB. You may not need to scan the documents in the highest/best quality if standard quality suffices.
  4. Name your PDF file in the format of "HKSAR TDS_student ID_full name" (e.g. HKSAR TDS_20221111_Chan Tai Man). We may not be able to identify your submission if you do not name your file as instructed.
  5. Login to our “Documents Upload Platform” at https://sfa.hkbu.edu.hk/supporting_docs/ with your SSOid. Choose and click “HKSAR Talent Development Scholarship (TDS)” in the menu to upload the documents. We will NOT be able to receive your documents if you choose another scheme, so please click the scheme name carefully. The “Documents Upload Platform” will close automatically at the submission deadline 11:59pm of 14 January 2025 (Tuesday). You will receive an auto-email from the system upon successful upload of your PDF file.
  • To avoid last-minute rush/unexpected technical errors/difficulties that may require extra time to solve, you are advised to prepare and upload your PDF file as early as possible before the deadline. Note that the submission time is subject to our system’s clock on the website, which may or may not be the same as your watch, and the Office of Student Affairs has the discretion to make final judgments on whether the application is considered late.
  • Online application without the submission of the application form and supporting documents in one PDF file will NOT be considered.
  • Submission by email/fax/hardcopy or after the application deadline will NOT be accepted.

All applications will be assessed by an internal selection panel. Eligible students will be recommended to the EDB for consideration and approval. The selection results will be announced in June 2025.

Faculty members are welcome to encourage eligible students to apply.

 

ENQUIRY

For enquiries, please feel free to contact us at 3411 6713 or by email to sfa@hkbu.edu.hk.