A New Era Begins 1975-78

Editorial or the newly formed Broadcasting concentrations in 1976- 77. For this new field of specialization, a fully-equipped broadcasting studio was built, to provide realistic training experience. In 1978, local and foreign media provided summer internships to twenty-one junior students. (4) Government and Public Administration : The Board established the Public Affairs Research Centre in 1977-78. The research work will interact wi th its instruction programme grouped under the following three areas of study: Hong Kong, China and Southeast Asia. This matter is discussed specifically in Section VI I. (5) Electronics : Since 1975, the Board has introduced a 5-year work-study programme. So far, twenty-seven 4th-year students have been placed in a special training programme in 10 major local organizations covering a wide range o f activities. The response from both students and industry has been enthusiastic, indicating that it is an important contribution towards training engineers to meet current and future needs of the local electronics industry. In spite of the popularity of the 5th-year plan, the Board is presently concentrating its effort on formalizing the training aspects of the programme, and is, therefore, limiting its annual intake to about 15 students. With all their conscientious effort to work closely wi th the local industry, the Board members continue to make progress with their theoretical and practical research projects. (6) Computer Science : Elective courses began to be offered in Computer Science in 1970-71 which became a minor degree programme in 1974-75. Although there has been a large demand for computer science as a minor field of study, the Board was forced to limit minors to two hundred for 1977-78. To meet the demands of students and community, Computer Science has become a major programme in 1978-79. New Dimension: Faculty of Medicine In 1974, the Hong Kong Government published the white paper on the Further Development of Medical and Health Services, which is in effect the development plan for the decade 1973-1982. Taking the overall needs of the entire population into consideration, it was estimated that an additional 100 doctors would be required each year to provide adequate staff for the 4 new regional hospitals and the hospital bed: population ratio of 5.5 per 1,000. There were two to increase the intake of the Medical Faculty of the Hong Kong University or to establish a Medical Faculty at this University. The final decision was left to UPGC, which after lengthy and careful consideration advised the Government to establish another medical faculty at CUHK. Medical Academic The formal approval was given by the Government in 1974. Actual preparatory work, however, began in 1976 after Hong Kong recovered 44