Vice-Chancellor's Report 1978-82

In this respect, Chung Chi College, which was originally founded as a Christian institution and furthermore has been on the present campus for over a quarter of a century, has perhaps the longest tradition of binding staff and students together through a wide range of extracurricular activities. As a matter of fact, the spirit extended beyond graduation to alumni of the College, who continued to keep in close association with the College and with one another. The College has also devoted major efforts to design and run a well-balanced General Education Programme, which spanned all four years of studies and has been found useful by many graduates who have participated in such Programmes. I am glad to see that during the past four years, all three Colleges had largely been able to maintain its original thrusts in these activities, and even strike out into new areas. I must now turn to a host of new lecture series organized by the Colleges, which I would consider one of the most important new developments in College life. Any university which aspires to the front rank of international academic institutions must have its share of leading academics who are world authorities in their chosen subject. Such original minds are unlikely, however, to be housed within one campus, and even the most prestigious universities of the world do not have a monopoly of all the distinguished academicians on a chosen discipline. So that the University community may share the wisdom of such distinguished scholars even for short periods, the Colleges instituted several distinguished lectureship programmes which seek to bring to the University's campus every year a number of truly distinguished scholars to address the academic community. Such a scheme was first started by New Asia College in the form of the "Ch'ien Mu Lectures in History and Cu l t u r e ” i n October 1978. Named after the founder of New Asia College, these lectures are intended to promote Chinese culture and preserve the historical tradition of the College. By inviting leading scholars to lecture at the College, it is hoped that not only will the students' intellectual horizon be broadened, but staff members will also have the opportunity of exchanging views and discussing problems with the distinguished visitors. Although the invited scholars are all specialists in their particular fields, the topics of their lectures are designed to cover cultural, social and philosophical problems, transcending the narrow confines of their own specialties. As such, they are also intended to enrich the General Education 30