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Thomas Chan

Seventy-eight academic high-fliers have been awarded the Hong Kong Scholarship for Excellence to support their studies at top-notch universities around the world in the coming academic year.
The first winners of the scholarship, initiated by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying in his policy address last year, received their awards yesterday.
Twenty-five will pursue postgraduate studies, while 53 will begin life as undergraduates with the help of HK$250,000 a year to cover tuition fees. The scheme drew 658 applicants.
"All these [students] have diverse interests and talents, as evidenced by the broad range of disciplines they intend to pursue," Leung said. "They will all return and contribute to Hong Kong with the knowledge and skills they gain."
Apart from the traditional elite subjects, such as law and medicine, some will pursue their interests in areas such as forest science, aeronautical engineering, music and town planning.
Among them is Lai Sze-fat, a 24-year-old Baptist University graduate, who will study international planning at University College London. Lai said urban planning had long been his interest as it would affect generations of people.
Speaking about the controversial plan to develop the northeastern New Territories, Lai said: "I believe in any free society, the government has to respect the opinions of every interested party. Undeniably, the government is the biggest landlord, but that doesn't mean it can do whatever it wants on its land."
He said the high cost of land in the city not only made buying a flat an uphill battle, it hindered the growth of start-up enterprises. Lai said there were a lot of starts-up in some Western countries because young adults could rent a large place for a few thousand dollars.
For pianist Jessica Chin Lok-yan, making Hong Kong more livable is not just about well-organised town planning - culture plays a vital part.
Chin, 23, who will pursue a master's degree in music at the New England Conservatory in the United States, wants to promote classical music in Hong Kong by organising concerts at schools and introducing different instruments to youngsters.
Born into a musical family, Chin says many children in Hong Kong are forced by their parents to learn music, but they rarely understand and appreciate the cultural connotations of every piece they play.
Chin's mother is also a pianist, while her father is a viola player with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
The scholarship for the 2016/17 academic year will receive applications in the coming weeks and will assist up to 100 scholars.


Hong Kong Scholarship for Excellence helps bright young students follow their dreams

The first winners of the prize are (from left) Justin Cheung Yan-yiu, Isabella Woo Tsz-yu, Jessica Chin and Lai Sze-fat. Photo: Dickson Lee

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