The Executive Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has passed a proposal to cancel a scholarship program for non-local students for the 2016-2017 academic year.

Eight universities in Hong Kong had provided government-funded scholarships for 15,000 first-year undergraduates, including a quota of 4 percent for non-local full-time students.

The change means that 600 more local students will have a chance to be sponsored, according to a document from the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The bureau said the policy change will not affect the recruitment of non-local students to Hong Kong.