Applications have opened for the newy launched Quality Education Fund e-Learning Ancillary Facilities Programme and will be accepted until the end of February next year, the Education Bureau announced today.

The Quality Education Fund (QEF) has allocated $500 million to set up the programme to facilitate the development, enrichment and provision of e-learning ancillary facilities to benefit the education sector at large.

The programme fosters in-depth collaboration between the school sector, tertiary institutions, educational and professional organisations as well as the business sector to develop these facilities, in particular infrastructure which has the potential to be widely adopted such as systems, platforms or tools.

The pilot programme will proceed via two schemes. Through the Development & Dissemination Scheme, the programme will invite selected grantees of previously approved e-learning projects funded by the QEF to submit a proposal for further development and dissemination of the project deliverables.

Through the New Project Scheme, the programme will open for tertiary institutions or school sponsoring bodies to apply for funding to develop ancillary facilities for implementing e-learning in schools.

To attract quality applications and help ensure project sustainability, the grantees will be allowed to own the intellectual property rights of the projects under the programme. They may also generate income during the project period to cover the expenses of implementing it.

The bureau issued a letter today to all public sector schools, Direct Subsidy Scheme schools and kindergartens joining the Kindergarten Education Scheme inviting them to take part in the programme as partners of the projects to be developed by tertiary institutions and school sponsoring bodies.

Click here for programme details.