Vice-Chancellor's Report 1990-93

Introduction During the period under review, the University underwent important changes, which were effected in response to both external and internal factors. I f we continue to introduce necessary changes skilfully and monitor their effects carefully, a preeminent university will undoubtedly emerge to fulfil the roles it is destined to play. The University's reputation around the world has soared as a result of the many initiatives it has taken to link itself actively and creatively with like-minded uni- versities of excellence overseas. Its image in Hong Kong has been improving steadily. How we perceive ourselves will largely depend on our understanding of the need for and the effectiveness of changes we have gone through. Since its inception 30 years ago, the University has undertaken to extend knowledge with a bilingual and bicultural approach, and has tried to realize such an objective in all subject areas. This has given us an enormous advantage in meeting one of the most important challenges in tertiary education: the need to train high-quality manpower to be the natural bridges between the East and the West. In the face of government's decision to implement in 1994 the ruling on the admission of students to tertiary institutions uniformly after Secondary 7, this university has striven to maintain the basic advantages of its traditional system, one that allowed admission of students from both Secondary 6 and 7. Through making the curriculum structure and the credit unit system more flexible, we shall be in a position to accommodate the new admission arrange- ments for immediate school leavers in Hong Kong as well as maintain exchangeability with academic programmes offered by institutions overseas. We nevertheless regret that the majority of new students will soon have less time to enjoy the dynamic learning experience on the university campus. The Chinese University of Hong Kong enters into its 30th anniversary this year. I am particularly pleased to report on the major developments of the past three years to illustrate how we have prepared the University for new tasks and greater responsibilities ahead. Academic Development Academic developments over the last three years have been geared towards the creation of a more flexible environment. Academic programmes have been designed to be more easily expandable, consolidatory, and integrative to meet the requirements of an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge. The credit unit system has been further improved to allow greater flexibility in course selection and pace of study. As a result we shall be able to comply with the government ruling on ad- mission of students uniformly after Secondary 7. We have in fact participated in the Joint University and Polytechnic Admissions Scheme 3