13 12 HKU ANNUAL REPORT 2023 ACCELERATING GROWTH HKU’s generous Presidential Professorships and Outstanding Young Professorships schemes, both launched in the past couple of years, aim to attract high calibre academics from around the world. Together with government funding, these schemes helped us recruit 91 new academic staff, including a Nobel Laureate, in 2023. To attract outstanding postdoctoral fellows, we launched the Presidential Research Assistant Professor Scheme in April 2023. We also offer Presidential PhD Scholarships for promising research postgraduate (RPG) students, which were awarded to 143 high-potential RPG students from around the world in 2023. Alongside these newer programmes, existing programmes have recently been sharpened to attract and reward talent. The Endowed Professorships Scheme now provides significant funding for both incoming and current top scholars for research and academic activities. The Visiting Professors Scheme now allows top visiting scholars flexibility in the time they spend at HKU. The University also recognises high achievement through the annual HKU Excellence Awards. Eight emerging and outstanding Hong Kong athletes have been admitted to HKU this year through the Top Athletes Direct Admission Scheme. 83 top scorers from all six continents were admitted to HKU in 2023. This included 27 local very high scorers who earned top marks in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE), International Baccalaureate, and GCE A-level examinations respectively. We also value diversity in admissions and admitted nearly 100 local students through the School Nominations Direct Admission Scheme, eight top athletes with exceptional sports achievements through the Top Athletes Direct Admission Scheme, another 19 outstanding athletes through the Sports Scholarship Scheme, and 87 local non Chinese-speaking students, the most of any university in Hong Kong. Internationally, students were recruited from more than 40 countries and regions, such as Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Chile, Ethiopia, Peru, Poland, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. More non-local students will be admitted in future in line with the Hong Kong Government’s recent announcement that 40% of first-year students can come from outside the city. This dovetails well with HKU’s goal of being a global hub for higher education. TOP SCHOLARS AND STUDENTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD ARE JOINING HKU, ATTRACTED BY THE UNIVERSITY’S REPUTATION AND INCENTIVE PROGRAMMES TO LURE TALENT. RECRUITING THE BEST PEOPLE 91 NEWLY RECRUITED SCHOLARS, INCLUDING 22 AT FULL PROFESSOR LEVEL OR ABOVE 83 TOP SCORERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD 800+ NON-LOCAL STUDENTS FROM 40+ COUNTRIES AND REGIONS ADMITTED IN 2023 143 PRESIDENTIAL PHD SCHOLARS SCHOLARS STUDENTS
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