A total of 1,185 students from Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU) recently received scholarships and awards under the HKSAR Government's Self-financing Post-secondary Scholarship Scheme (SPSS) for the 2025/26 academic year. This represents more than a quarter of all awardees. They received a total of over HK$20 million in scholarships, setting a record in terms of both the number of awardees and the total scholarship amount for the University.

The students were recognised in all five categories under the scheme: 260 received the Outstanding Performance Scholarship, 74 the Best Progress Award, 163 the Talent Development Scholarship, 619 the Reaching Out Award and 69 the Endeavour Scholarship. Five student representatives attended the Government's presentation ceremony held on 23 April.

Among the awardees is Lau Ching-hei, a fourth-year Science (STEM) student and recipient of the Talent Development Scholarship. With a passion for inventing since childhood, Ching-hei has focused on developing practical solutions for everyday needs. His latest innovation is a smart queuing system designed to assist older adults. The system integrates facial recognition technology and audio alerts, enabling users to register and obtain a queue number for goods or services without having to stand and wait in long lines.

Established in 2011, the SPSS aims to promote quality and sustainable development within Hong Kong's self-financing post-secondary education sector. It supports students enrolled in full-time, locally accredited self-financing sub-degree and undergraduate programmes. In the 2025/26 academic year, a total of 4,500 students from 25 institutions received HK$82 million in scholarships and awards under the scheme.