Bulletin Vol. 1 No. 5 Nov 1964

ment gives little help to the development of a good university. Research w ill also provide an effective vehicle fo r international cooperation and assistance. The facilities fo r faculty research and postgraduate training are to be provided fo r in, institutes. “ W ith respect to Chinese H istory, Literature and Philosophy, there is already the Institute of Advanced Chinese Studies and Research which has been in operation fo r many years at New Asia College. W ith respect to other fields o f research and postgraduate training, we have to set up at this time two new institutes at the University. “ One is the Institute o f Social Studies, which w ill include units in such areas as business and public administration, economics, geography, mass com munication, modern Chinese studies, social survey, sociology and social welfare, and world history. "The other is the institute of Science and Tech nology which w ill engage in both basic and applied research in such areas as biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics and statistics. There is no need to recruit faculty members fo r the exclusive purpose of doing research in the University; the facilities are meant fo r the existing faculties. We expect that many o f these research units w ill work closely w ith the industrial, commercial and communal interests of Hong Kong. “ It is proposed that at least fo r the immediate period, the Vice-Chancellor w ill take up the direc torship o f the Institute o f Social Studies and Dr. C.T. Yung, President of Chung Chi College, w ill take up the directorship of the Institute of Science and Technology." On L i b r a r y “ A good up-to-date working library is vital to any institution of higher learning. In March 1964, Professor Ray Swank, Dean of the Graduate School of Librarianship at the University of California, Berkeley, and M r. Eugene Wu, Curator at Stanford University, came to advise us on the setting up of a University Library. They have come up w ith very sensible and practical suggestions both fo r the interim period before the new site is built, and fo r the long run. The Academic Planning Committee has approved the report in. principle, which envisages that the three existing college libraries w ill continue to be maintained as teaching libraries fo r the undergraduates whereas the University L i­ brary w ill develop into one fo r research on the part o f advanced students and faculty members. “ To implement their recommendations, the first step w ill be taken by acquiring books fo r the two Institutes, and the School of Education. Volumes w ill be temporarily under the custody of the College Libraries. We have been urgently looking fo r a qualified University Librarian. While the search goes on, we have to set up immediately a skeleton staff, headed by a Cataloguer, to deal w ith orders and receipt and dispatch o f books. Whether or not a University L ib ra rian can be found in time, a Deputy Librarian is required by July 1965. Before we can move to the new site, the Central Office w ill provide space in the new office premises." On School o f Edu c a t i o n ‘‘There is a crying need fo r trained graduate teachers from this University in the local secondary schools. A committee, of which the Deputy D irector of Education is a member, has been working on the matter since last March. "A lthough the final report is not yet available, it is the consensus of opinion o f the Committee that the School of Education be established in September 1965 w ith an enrolment of approximately 40 postgraduate students. The D irector of Education has given as surance that at least one half of these 40 students w ill be provided w ith bursaries,” On E x t r a - M u r a l Studies “ One of the urgent con siderations at this stage of development of the Uni versity is a suitable way of establishing a closer re lationship w ith the local community, the interest of which has been aroused to an extraordinary degree by the foundation of this University. Consequently the Adm inistration has decided to start an Extra- Mural Studies Department in early 1965. ‘‘The programme is expected to pay fo r itself except fo r the administrative expenditure which is in the budget. It is proposed that the directorship of the Extra-Mural Studies Department w ill be taken up con currently by M r. T. C. Cheng, President of the United College." On Unde r gr aduat e Teach ing “ To raise the acade mic standard o f the University, emphasis w ill have to be placed on the effective operation of the Boards of Studies, on the provision of research facilities in the Institue fo r the teaching staff and advanced stud ents, on the programme of visiting professors from abroad, on close affiliation w ith a top-ranking uni versity in the West like the University of California, and on revamping the University teaching system. The Boards o f Studies have been launched. The visiting-professors programme has begun. The nego tiations w ith the University of California are proceed­ ing satisfactorily. The report of the two British ad visors (Professor George Lehmann and Dr. John Vaugh Loa ch ) on University teaching methods w ill soon be forthcoming. As far as the Colleges are concerned, their develop ment w ill be focussed on the strengthening of the teaching departments at the undergraduate level both in personnel and in material. On Unde r gr aduat e E n r o l m e n t “ The actual growth of student enrolment has been quite different than the calculations in the Fulton Report. In the first place, the drop-out rate (o r "wastage") has been con siderably less than that assumed by the Commission, which was four per cent at the end of the first year and from 20 per cent (fo r Arts and Social Studies) to 30 per cent (fo r Science) at the end of the second year. 2