Current Students

Faculty Global Exploration Fund (UG) (FGEF)

Objective and Overview

To encourage student mobility and align with the University’s targets listed in the University’s Academic Development Proposal 2016-19, the Faculty of Arts is pleased to offer subsidies to Arts undergraduate students, who plan to participate in and have demonstrated commitment to the proposed mainland China or international learning experience (hereinafter the “activity”) starting from the 2017-18 academic year. The subsidy was renamed from the “Faculty Student Mobility Fund” to the “Faculty Global Exploration Fund” (hereinafter the “Fund”) in the 2018-19 academic year.

The Fund cannot be held concurrently with other funding sources (e.g. HKU, government, offshore universities) to support the same activity, failing which applicants are required to report to the Faculty in writing to withdraw the application immediately, and if applicable, return the funding to the Faculty. Hence, students are advised to consider carefully the terms and conditions of various funding support from the University and the government (e.g. https://tl.hku.hk/horizons/overview/). Students are expected to explore other funding options that support learning experience abroad before applying for the Fund.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible Students

The Fund is applicable to students (NOT including incoming exchange students) from the below programmes:

BA
BA(HDT)
BASc
BA&BEd(LangEd)
BA&LLB

Eligible Activities

Eligible activities include, but are not limited to, the following categories, which should be organized by an HKU office or endorsed by an HKU teacher:

Category	Definitions	Examples
1. Student Exchange	Academic studies Normally credit-bearing For at least one semester Applications of the activity are submitted to an HKU office	Student exchange programmes organized by the Faculty, the School of Modern Languages and Cultures or International Affairs Office
2. Visiting	Academic studies Normally credit-bearing For at least one semester Applications of the activity are submitted to other organisations	Fee-paying study abroad programme
3. Short-term study/ Study trip / Career Activity*	Structured series of learning and/or study activities, normally discipline-related May be credit-bearing For a short period of at least 3 weeks, of which at least 2 must be outside Hong Kong; or the trip is tied to a credit-bearing course	Field trip; language immersion programme; summer/winter programme Departmental internship; Company visits, job shadowing, internship endorsed by CEDARS

*For Category 3, it will be regarded as short-term study abroad programmes, the FGEF support amount will benchmark the maximum amount of HK$10,000, please refer to the important notes below for more details.

Support Amount

From the academic year 2018-19 onwards, each eligible student can seek reimbursement up to HK$20,000 during their degree studies. The maximum amount of funding* of the total major cost (i.e. transportation cost#, accommodation cost^ and course/programme fee) of each approved activity is as follows:

Destination	Max. amount of funding
Americas, Europe, Israel, Japan & South Africa	HK$12,000
Australia & New Zealand	HK$11,000
South Korea	HK$7,000
Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Macau	HK$5,500
China	HKU China 10,000 Exchange Programme

Applications for funding support for a second activity with justifications may be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Notes:

* Maximum amount of funding may vary among programmes with potential benchmarking with other funding supporting similar programmes.

# Transportation cost is confined to (a) the cheapest return economy class of transport at the most direct route to the place of the activity from Hong Kong, and (b) necessary domestic travelling expenses between home/accommodation and airports during the designated activity period. If applicants choose to extend their stay beyond the designated activity period voluntarily, or travel beyond the designated country/countries (i.e. not departing from or returning back to Hong Kong), they are required to provide a quotation showing the transportation price of the cheapest return economy class of transport on the exact start and end dates when the designated activity should take place, failing which the Faculty will not be able to process the reimbursement. Reimbursement will be considered based on the actual cost, or the quotation of the assumed flight in point (a), whichever is less.

^ Accommodation cost only covers standard room cost during the designated activity period. Applicants who share a room with others shall indicate so in the reimbursement form.

Application Timeline and Procedures

Before the activity:

Complete an online registration form BEFORE your proposed activity.

Special approval may be considered if ineligible for registration - apply at least 6 weeks BEFORE the activity starts. Please submit via here.

If you choose to extend your stay beyond the designated activity dates voluntarily, please obtain a quotation showing the price of the cheapest return flight on the exact activity start and end dates when the designated activity should take place. This is to determine the amount that will be reimbursed for your transportation costs.

After the activity:

Within 8 weeks of completing your activity, please:

Complete an online reimbursement form.

Submit the following supporting documents in hard copy to the Faculty Office:

a completed online reimbursement application form with original signatures and relevant supporting documents, e.g. original receipt, transportation ticket, boarding pass;
a report not exceeding 1,000 words, with 10 photos taken during the activity attended;
an official document certifying completion of the activity (e.g. academic transcript, evaluation report, certifying letter) issued by the host institution(s)/organizer(s); and
for self-initiated activities that are not organized by HKU, applicants should submit a supporting letter endorsed by an HKU teacher.

Applicants will be notified of the application result via their HKU email.

Important Notes

Students who plan to apply for FGEF for a second activity should contact the Faculty Office before submitting a new application. The application will be considered case-by-case.

For activities which do not completely meet the terms and conditions will still be considered case-by-case. Special Approval Application is required at least 6 weeks prior to the activity date indicated on the online application system.

Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.

Applicants would also need to submit the softcopy of the report and relevant photos to the office for further promotion usage when requested.

The maximum amount of funding may vary among programmes with potential benchmarking with other funding supporting similar programmes.

For reference:

Situation 1: Students participating in exchange programmes organized by the Arts Faculty or IAO (International Affairs Office, HKU)

May apply for the FGEF provided that they are not eligible for receiving first-time full scholarship offered by the IAO and/or have not accepted another scholarship for the same activity beforehand
The FGEF maximum support amounts will benchmark the IAO award scales, whichever the less will be applied.

Situation 2: As for short-term study abroad programmes

The FGEF support amount will benchmark the maximum amount of HK$10,000 regardless of students’ CGPA scores and whichever the less will be awarded (with reference to the IAO award scales).

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