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Funding Programmes
and Application Guide

Funding Programmes and Application Guide
Priority Themes
Tips for Application

Priority Themes

Tips for Application

What are the common issues that make a project difficult to obtain support from the QEF?
Common Issues:
  • Projects that do not align with the current policy or initiatives of the Education Bureau
    Examples: Implementing STEAM or Artificial Intelligence learning activities in kindergartens
  • Projects that aim at funding regular school activities / are solely for the implementation of regular school activities
    Examples: Track and field team training is held by the applicant school every year and the applicant school plans to apply for funding to pay the coaching fees for the coming year.
  • Lack of innovative elements
    Examples: Organising activities for students that are common in the community, such as musical instrument classes or uniformed group activities.
  • Not within the funding scope of the QEF
    Examples: The project beneficiaries are the general public.
  • Project objectives can hardly be achieved by the project activities.
    Examples:
    • Organising rock climbing activities to enhance students’ self-care abilities
    • Cultivating positive values by copying literary works
How to formulate the project objectives?
Dos
  • Clear and concrete
  • Concise
  • Briefly describe the key implementation strategies
Examples
  1. Cultivating K1-K3 students’ interests in learning English and their willingness to speak English through picture books and engaging English activities.
  2. The project aims to promote whole-school interactive electronic learning and teaching to enhance students’ interaction and collaborative abilities in classroom activities.
Don’ts
  • Vague and without addressing the target beneficiaries
  • A lack of focus with too many objectives
  • Over-elaborate details of project activities
Examples
  1. Enhancing students’ development through a variety of activities.
  2. The project aims to implement a school-based initiative using an innovative e-learning platform to provide students with opportunities for self-directed learning and assessment. The system can recommend questions based on students’ abilities, automatically grade their responses, and provide teachers with student data for reference during collaborative lesson planning meetings to discuss strategies for refining classroom teaching.
What budget items are typically not supported by the QEF?
Examples
  1. Entertainment expenses and prizes
  2. Food costs
  3. Equipment maintenance costs
  4. Insurance premiums
  5. Utility
  6. Business set up cost
Does the QEF support projects involving learning activities outside Hong Kong?

If projects involve learning activities outside Hong Kong, the proposals should elaborate on the planning of the learning activities and its essentiality, ensuring that the activities are specific to the abilities and needs of the participating students, and can help achieve the project objectives.


The actual amount of subsidy for each student will be determined based on the student’s social-economic background:

A. General students 50% support of the costs or 50% of the funding ceiling of the respective destination *
B. Students in receipt of half remission under the Student Financial Assistance Scheme (SFAS) 75% support of the costs or 75% of the funding ceiling of the respective destination *
C. Students in receipt of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) or full remission under the Student Financial Assistance Scheme (SFAS) 100% support of the costs or 100% of the funding ceiling of the respective destination *

* whichever is the lower


Application example:

A primary school plans to lead 20 students to Beijing to implement learning activities related to national education and national security education, to strengthen students’ sense of national identity.

If the cost for each student is estimated to be $3,000, the school should fill in the budget as follows:

Budget item Quantity Unit Unit Price
(HK$)		 Amount
(HK$)
Mainland learning activity
Destination: Beijing		 Student: 20.0 Person 3,000 60,000

If the above funding sought, $60,000, is supported, after signing the Agreement, under the current mechanism, the QEF will release half of the funding amount of the activity to the grantee, i.e. $30,000. The rest of the funding amount is the additional subsidy for needy students. The grantee should apply for the release of relevant additional subsidy in accordance with participating students’ background.

If the application is successful, can the grantee start the project before signing the Agreement?

The grantee could start the project only after signing the Agreement.

The QEF will only cover expenses incurred between the project commencement date and end date specified in the Agreement.