The China Oxford Scholarship Fund (COSF) was established by a group of business people as a charitable organisation in 1992 to assist Hong Kong students with the expenses of undertaking postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford. The Fund has grown substantially since then to include candidates from the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong and Macau. In 2004, COSF was established in the United Kingdom.  Its first patron was the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

COSF is a private educational initiative supported by donations, endowments and sponsors. It is run by volunteers in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Britain. The Fund’s administrative offices are in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Besides awarding scholarships from its current funds, its target is to raise substantial new money so as to establish endowments that can provide full scholarships for its awardees.  It also aims to provide social support for the scholars during their time at Oxford and also to develop its alumni network.  Since our educational initiative began, we have awarded 381 scholarships with total funding worth nearly £2 million.