Vice-Chancellor's Report 1985-87

Yout h an d th eFutur e o fHon g Kon g Thirtieth Congregation for the Conferment of First Degrees (12th December, 1985) M r . Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen, Colleagues and Students, After thre e year s o f tensio n an d anxiety , Hon g Kon g ha s no w finall y gone throug h a major politica l turnin g point . I t wil stil l hav e a long journe y to mak e throug h th e nex t decad e o r so , durin g whic h i t is t o chang e fro m a British administere d territor y int o a highly autonomou s Specia l Administrativ e Region unde r th e sovereignt y o f China. I n thi s transitiona l period, Hon g Kong will hav e t o participat e i n the buildin g o f a politica l syste m suitabl e fo r it s future status , t o continue t o grow an d make progress, an d yet a t the same time also t o kee p it s basi c socia l and economic system s unchanged. Ver y muc h lik e making a crossing i n stron g win d acros s chopp y ope n water , thi s take s confidence, technical skil l as well as the abilit y o f accurately determining one's bearing and locatin g th e destination , s o as to b e abl e t o finall y lan d a t th e righ t spot afte r a lon g journey . Woul d Hon g Kon g peopl e b e abl e t o appl y thei r talents, fortitud e an d foresight , whic h hav e prove d s o successful i n commerc e and industry, t o politics a s well, an d thus survive and thrive i n the complicate d situation no w confrontin g them ? Ar e there futur e statesme n wit h visio n an d conviction amongs t th e thousan d od d youn g me n an d wome n no w seate d in front o f us? Surely such questions have taken on added importance an d urgency at thi s moment , whe n Hon g Kon g peopl e mus t stan d u p an d spea k fo r themselves. It i s common knowledg e tha t fo r a society t o make progress , i t must develop education , an d that th e expansion of education depends on the availability of sufficien t resource s an d th e existenc e o f a suitabl e framework . An d indeed Hon g Kon g ha s durin g th e pas t three decade s devote d a great dea l o f effort t o th e developmen t o f education . Thu s th e provisio n o f nin e year s o f basic educatio n t o al l ha s no w becom e a reality, senio r secondar y educatio n and technica l educatio n i n man y form s ar e fas t expanding , an d higher education has als o grown considerably . A l l i n all , a comprehensive educationa l system is now takin g shape . Thi s i s th e frui t o f a long-term Governmen t polic y which ensure s a sustained high rat e o f investmen t an d steady progress : it s success and it s contribution t o th e overall development o f Hong Kong are here for all o f u s t o see . Nevertheless , ther e als o remai n a number o f problems i n thi s system, whic h ar e quite commonl y known . Confronted by a fast changing political situation and pressure o f increasing competition in international trade, Hong Kong obviously would need even more and yet better education from now on. The further expansion and improvement of its educational system has thereby become an urgent need, and the newly established Education Commission is now laying the groundwork for meeting it. This then should also he the right moment to review some of the important problems embedded in our educational sysem and t o re-examine their cause, and that is what I now propose to do. To view these problems in perspective, let us first remind ourselves o f some of the important events in the development of education in Hong Kong. During the first half of this century, we had, like China and most of the rest of the world, a 'six-four' system, that is, six years of secondary education fol- 37