Bulletin Report of The Commission on The Chinese University of Hong Kong March 1976

orientated" teaching undertaking one University course (or two) in each academic year. At this point we ought perhaps to remove any possible uncertai on one matter. We do not believe that an improvement in what is, by international standards, already a favourable staff/student ratio could be justified as a condition of the adoption of the arrangement we propose. 63. In Appendix III we set out an example of what the small-group teaching system we envisage would involve for participating staff and students. We emphasize that this is simply an illustration — many alternatives are possible and it would be for the University to decide which permutation best satisfies its needs and circumstances. 64. Both types of teacher working together could, we believe, make a significant impact. It would, however, be important, as a measure of justice, to ensure that as experience is gained there should be no disparity between the workload of the "student-orientated" teacher and that of the "subject- orientated" teacher. If disparities were allowed to obtrude to the disfavour of one type, they could not fail to undermine what must be essentially a co-operative effort. If the teaching loads of the two types of teachers were harmonised, they would thereby be assured of equal opportunities for writing and research. Thus, in turn, they would have equal opportunities for promotion. 65. It would be even more important to ensure that artificial barriers should not grow between "subject-orientated" and "student-orientated" teachers. For this reason we suggest that both types of teachers should be teachers of the University, appointed by the University and paid on the same University salary scales. This, however, need not preclude the University from considering special arrangements for residence for staff undertaking “student-orientated” teaching, since it is important that they should be readily available to students and should be able to play their part in promoting the community life of the Colleges. We would like to see the situation develop where all "student-orientated” teachers in the three Colleges were accomm on the University site at Shatin. We realise that this may not be practicable at once but we hope that this objective will be borne in mind in the future allocation of residential accommodation. Nor do we see why the University should not consider some concessions in relation to rent for ''student-orientated" teachers living in College. 66. Finally, we must draw attention to two distinctions. The first concerns the examination system. Through its examination procedures the University attests to the outside world and to the prospective employer that a successful student has been instructed in the expertise relevant to his field of studies and is competent in certain defined areas of application. Thus the University not only instructs but also examines, and must therefore in part be the judge of its own members. A College, on the other hand, is not the judge. It is rather the student's friend and his partner in the task of making the best of his abilities before his University judges. The College will advise him, build his confidence ， challenge false optimism, reprove inadequate methods of work ； it will provide him with a regimen of work encourages sound study and habits of application; and it will in these ways help him to live up to his abilities when the time of testing arrives. 67. Secondly, we must distinguish between the system of small-group "student-orientated" teaching which we have described and the tutorial arrangements which, we understand, operate at present within the University. We see our proposed system as a fundamentally important complement to the formal teaching offered by the University; the “student-orientated” teaching we have in mind would be conducted on a regular basis by