Bulletin Vol. 1 No. 1 Jun 1964

But it would be quite pertinent for me to indicate to you the basic idea, the basic philosophy, if you wish, of the Chinese University as I conceive it. There are three distinct elements which I would like to put over to you in the next few minutes. T h e first thing about the Chinese University is that it is a federation of the three colleges which will develop into not a loose federation, nor would it develop into a unitary institution, but a semi-unitary, a semi-loosely federated institution. Now, let us define what we mean by that. I think, in a nutshell, it will work out something as follows: Inter-collegiate Teaching In the first two years of university teaching, the courses for the students will be given in each one of the colleges. T h is means that in all the elementary courses for univer- sity curriculum, there will be same basic courses offered in each one of the three colleges for the first two years. This will make the colleges quite independent in the sense, even though there will be a common syllabus, common outlines and common faculty members who will be approved by the University. But it would be a distinct teaching curriculum for each one of the colleges. But when you get to the junior and senior years, the last two years of university life, then the picture changes. In the case of humanities, social sciences and business administration, there will be an interchange of students, who will go to different colleges to take the kind of courses they want to take. In other words, there will be inter-collegiate teaching which would not involve any duplication of courses as in the case of the lower division, namely the first two years of teaching. So if there should be one course in, let's say, central banking, in the junior year or senior year, there will be only one such course in the University among the three colleges, and the students who wish to take this course will go to the college in which it is offered. Science Laboratory Centre When you look at the science side of the picture in the junior and senior years, all the science courses will be offered in the University headquarters where there will be a university science laboratory centre in which physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics would be included. This may be described as intercollegiate teaching at a central location. T h e courses would be offered right there on the university campus where all the students of the third and fourth years in the field of sciences will go to take their courses and do their laboratory work. Then when you get to the graduate school—the post- graduate level—there will be institutes which partly would be responsible for training post-graduate students, granting degrees in due time, and partly devoted to providing facilities for faculty research. All these institutes —post-graduate schools 一 will be handled directly by the University itself. So, in a nutshell, you get a picture that the University is not a loosely-federated nor is it a unitary university, but a sort of semi-integrated university that is based on the cooperation and interchange of the three colleges. This is one feature which I would like you to keep in mind. Teaching Method T h e second feature which is of interest here is the fact that the three colleges, up to now, have taken over the traditional method of university teaching that has come to them from the mainland. In other words, what has developed in China in the last 50 years in university- teaching methods has continued in practice in the three colleges. But the Chinese University is a member of the British Commonwealth universities. What about the British teaching methods that would have to be incorpor- ated? Is it necessary to incorporate the features of other national university teaching systems? Are we satisfied with the existing teaching method? I know, for sure, that in the United States, there is a great deal of discussion on how to improve teaching methods in universities. When I was in England about three months ago, I discovered that there has been a national committee in the United Kingdom designed to do nothing but investigate the methods—the best methods of university teaching today and for the future. Therefore, for the Chinese University to be started at this point, we would not be fair to ourselves if we do not look into this matter and say to ourselves: Could we develop a new method of university teaching which would incorporate in itself the best features of various teaching systems that we know about and that could be adopted to meet the needs of the Chinese University? T h a t is the second feature that I like to communicate to you. International Character T he third feature that I think I should emphasize also in this connection is the international character of the Chinese University, Now, you might be a little surprised why I should place so much emphasis on the international side of the Chinese University. Well, I think this is really a very basic philosophy of the whole institution in my mind. Of course, all universities must aspire to reach international standards of scholarship to enable the students to feel that they are part of the world community, to get the faculty members to feel that they are right in the current of world education and research. This is all taken for granted for any university. Why should I emphasize the international character of the Chinese University so strongly? T h e reason is simple. To develop a new university is not an easy matter. It requires a tremendous amount of resources, human as well as material. How are we going to get them? Well, the Chinese University, it happens, has attracted a tremendous amount of goodwill at this point. There was a tremendous amount of interest around the world in the establishment and development of the Chinese University. This gave us the opportunity of tapping the resources for our purpose. There will be a continuous stream of well-known scholars to come to the Chinese University for short periods of time to help us. We have an advisory board represented by scholars from the United Kingdom, United States, Sweden, Italy and many other countries. We have on our University Council members from the West—from the United States and the United Kingdom, Contributions from various countries in the West have been made as well. This, I think, is the 2