The Research Grants Council of Hong Kong has allocated 544.6 million HK dollars in funds to 764 research projects, according to local government website on Wednesday.

Including an extra 15 percent of the project grant allocated to the institutional management as on-costs, the grand total awarded in General Research Fund for 2010/11 is 626.3 million HK dollars.

The council received a record high of 2,463 applications by academic staff of the eight tertiary institutions funded by the University Grants Committee, up 7 percent on last year. The overall success rate was 31 percent.

The average funding amount per project has also risen 7 percent from 667,000 HK dollars last year to 713,000 HK dollars this year. The number of high quality projects approved has grown 25 percent on last year.

Of the selected projects this year, 205 are in the engineering disciplines, 251 in humanities, social sciences and business studies, 174 in biology and medicine, and 134 in physical sciences. (Xinhua)