Hang Seng Bank announced on Tuesday that it will offer scholarships to a total of five outstanding Chinese mainland students for the MBA programs organized by the University of Hong Kong (HKU) in partnership with London Business School (LBS) over the next five years.

The bank said the scholarships will amount to 1.25 million HK dollars (178,571 U.S. dollars).

Under the Hang Seng Bank Scholarship Scheme, five Chinese mainland students, one per year (2006-2010), will each be awarded a 250,000 HK dollars (32,051 U.S. dollars) and an internship opportunity with Hang Seng.

Raymond Or, vice-chairman and chief executive of Hang Seng Bank, said, as a good corporate citizen, Hang Seng regards education as a top priority in our corporate social responsibility work.

He said "we are very please to encourage educational excellence and hope that more Chinese mainland future business leaders can be trained through this MBA program."

HKU launched its MBA program in partnership with LBS in November 2005. LBS ranks fifth in the world for MBAs, according to a 2005 Financial Time's ranking. HKU is the first and only partnering institution of LBS for its MBA program.

Hang Seng's other Chinese mainland scholarship schemes include its annual scholarships to 84 Chinese mainland undergraduate and postgraduate students from 14 mainland universities and its annual scholarships to seven Chinese mainland undergraduate students at seven Hong Kong tertiary institutions.

Source: Xinhua