In 1999, British Prime Minister Tony Blair introduced a Global Chevening Scholarships Initiatives funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as part of a package of measures to encourage more international students to study in the UK. In support of this lifelong education initiative, Mr. Li Ka-shing procured the Hutchison Whampoa Group to make a generous contribution, which the British Government named The Hutchison Chevening Scholarships.

The Hutchison Chevening Scholarships is an integral part of the Chevening Scholarships Scheme and commencing to run in 2002. The HCS allows about 60 postgraduate students from Hong Kong and mainland China to study in the UK for each year.

The Hutchison scholarships support up to 53 scholars from Hong Kong and Mainland China in their doctoral studies in the United Kingdom. The donation is matched by the UK Government under its Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Awards, which aims to bring over 100 Ph.D. students from China, including Hong Kong, and other countries such as Russia and India to study science, engineering, medicine, social sciences, and technology in top UK universities since its beginning in 2004.

The program offers educational exchange opportunities to 200 undergraduate and 20 postgraduate students a year. Half of the scholarships are designated for Australian students going to Asia and half for Asian students coming to Australia. The program is poised to effectively amplify the opportunities for educational and cultural exchange between Australia and Asia. By design, two thirds of the scholarships will be earmarked for students going to or coming from Hong Kong and Mainland China.