Vice-Chancellor's Report 1978-82

Chapter 6 Looking Ahea d When I took over the office of Vice-Chancellor in 1978, I inherited from my predecessor a university which after 15 years of building and reorganization was finally ready for a period of consolidation However, as my report on the work in these four years shows, while an important part of my task was indeed consolidation, there was nevertheless also need for expansion in a number of areas. Like Hong Kong itself, the University never stopped growing. As an academic institution which must be responsive to society's needs, it simply had to focus attention on the community's demand for more doctors and for second-chance education for adults. In response to other needs, we had to start new departments such as Anthropology, Psychology and Statistics and initiate several new postgraduate degree programmes. As is often the case, growth created dynamics and problems of its own, and the past four years were no exception in this respect. I am glad and indeed proud to say that the University had stayed together and stood these tests. This is in no small measure a tribute to the loyalty and fortitude of our staff and students. Also like the rest of Hong Kong, the University began to develop channels of communication with academic institutions in China, in the form of academic exchanges and through participation in conferences, seminars and training courses. It is fair to say that events and developments in the four years between mi d 1978 and mid 1982 made it easier for the University to fu l f il its espoused mission of bringing together the great cultural traditions of China and the West. Hopefully this exchange and cross fertilization will continue to develop in the same benign atmosphere during the years to come. At the same time, the well-established liaison between the University and the international academic community had been kept up and further expanded. More and more academic staff took part in international conferences to present the results of their scholarly pursuits. The University itself hosted many such 51