Bulletin Special Supplement Jun 1965

THE VICE-CHANCELLOR'S STATEMEN T TO THE SENATE ON IMPLEMENTAT ION OF THE NEW TEACHING METHOD [ The following Statement of the Vice-Chancellor is the amended version after discussion at the May 18th meeting o f the Senate, wh i ch also adopted the resolution put forth at the end of this Statement.] I t is most gratifying to see that all the three Foundation Colleges have not only endorsed the L e hma nn / Loach Report enthusiastically but have mapped out carefully the steps to be taken, beginning in September 1965, to implement the proposals in an orderly manner. As may be gathered f r om the College memoranda, wh i ch are attached herewith, there is unanimous agreement o n — (1) I n t r odu c t i o n of small-group teaching (tutorials and seminars), (2) Reduction of lecturing hours, (3) Re-examination of course-contents and introduction of new syllabuses, (4) Streamlining of College curricula, (5) De-emphasis of examinations. Wh i le it is not necessary that each College should proceed w i t h exactly the same speed in implementation, it is imperative that for each subject field the College departmen t concerned should have continuous exchange of information and opinion w i th its counterparts in the other Colleges and also complete knowledge of what these latter are doing and w i ll do. T h is may best be handled by each Board of Studies. As a result of discussions w i th the Professors, the Directors of University Studies, and the College Presidents, I wo u ld like also to propose that each Board of Studies should also be charged w i th the responsibility of wo r k i ng out the details for implementation of th e following plan regarding examinations: (a) W i t h all the w r i t t en work required in smallgroup teaching and w i th the Intermediate and Degree Examinations, each College should be given f u ll flexibility to determine the achievements of the students during the four years of College. (For example, in an extreme case, a teacher may find it possible to give no examinations at all in any one of the courses he teaches.) (b) A t the end of the second (Sophomore) year, the Universit y w i ll conduct an Intermediate Examination i n the mo n th of June— (i) Subjects to be tested for each student: Chinese, English, a paper on his major subject, a paper on his minor subject, and a paper on his elective wh i ch may be General Education. ( I t should be noted that each paper is not a course examination, but one on a subject-field.) (ii) T h e nature and f o rm of the examination, and the m i n i mum standard re quired should be worked out by each Board of Studies directly concerned, subject to the approval of the Senate. (iii) Students sitting for the Intermediate Examination must be recommended by each College of the University. (iv) Students who fail in one or two papers w i ll be required to take at least three more years of residence before taking the Degree Examination. U p o n the recommendation of the Board of Studies, however, some of these students may be given a supplementary examination in September o f the year. (v) Students who fail in more than onehalf of the papers w i ll be asked to leave the University. (c) A t the end of the t h i rd (Junior) year, the students w i ll take the first part of the Degree Examination, given b y the University, covering about one-thir d of the Degree papers. (d) A t the end of the f o u r th (Senior) year, the University w i l l give the second part of the 2