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

( I) Introduction (1) Historical background 1. The Chinese University of Hong Kong was established in October 1963 as a federal-type University comprising Chung Chi College, New Asia College and The United College as foundation colleges. Chung Chi College had been founded in 1951 in Hong Kong by representatives of various Protestant churches as an institution of higher learning which would be both Chinese and Christian. It had a very modest beginning with only 63 students enrolled but, with financial help from overseas, it expanded in rented premises until in 1956 it moved to its beautiful site in the Ma Liu Shui valley in the New Territories. New Asia College had been founded in 1949 by its President, Dr. Chi'en Mu, and other Chinese scholars who came from the mainland as refugees to Hong Kong, intent on providing for their students a knowledge of their Chinese cultural heritage and of modern Western learning. The College began in humble surroundings, but soon attracted local and overseas support, notably from the Yale-in-Chinese Association and the Harvard-Yenching Institute, and developed a small attractive campus in Kowloon. The United College had been created in 1956 by the amalgamation of five refugee colleges which decided to pool their resources, but even so, it faced staffing and accommodation problems and was forced to exist for many years in temporary premises. 2. These three Colleges co-operated for some years in a joint Council with the object of securing government recognition and financial assistance for their aspirations and preparing plans for future university development. Then, in 1963 ， a Commission, under Lord Fulton's chairmanship charged with the task of advising the Government of the steps necessary to achieve the aim of establishing “a suitably constituted federal-type Chinese University at the earliest possible date” recommended that they should become constituent parts of a new Chinese University to be established not later than 30 September 1963. This recommendation was approved in principle by the Government and accepted by the three Colleges. 3. In the years since that Commission visited Hong Kong the University has made momentous progress both in its physical development and in its academic accomplishments. Perhaps the most outstanding achievement has been the creation of the campus at Shatin on which the Colleges and the central University buildings have been developed side by side, each with their individual architectural styles but within an overall harmony of design. The concentration of the whole University on one site was not contemplated as a practical possibility when the 1963 Commission reported ； it had to work on the assumption that New Asia College, The United College and the central activities would be based five miles away from Chung Chi College. Having all its component parts located together has clearly been of great advantage to the University, even though it involved at first a longer and consequently trying period of separation for the Colleges. Excellent progress has been made in capital development and the site is now graced with a splendid array of buildings for academic and residential purposes. 4. Academically, too, the University has grown in stature. In October 1962 the student numbers in the three Colleges totalled 1,073 and the Commission envisaged an undergraduate enrolment of 1,800 in five years' time. That target was exceeded as early as 1965/6 and by December 1975 student numbers had risen to 3,538 full-time and 202 part-time. The University's determination to respond to the needs of the community has been shown in the increasing range of its academic programmes. Several new subjects have been introduced at undergraduate level such as Electronics, Journalism and Music and courses in more Modern Languages have been made available.