Bulletin Spring 1977

CONSTRUCTION OF NEW STUDENT HOSTELS In 1978 the University will have three new student hostels accommodating 660 students. The hostels, one to be constructed at each constituent College, will each have 110 double rooms of 140 sq. ft. The total construction cost will amount to HK$9,300,000 ， two-thirds of which will be defrayed by the Hong Kong Government. The remaining one-third will be met by private donations: HK$2,100,000 from a local investment company, Bethlehem Co., Ltd., and HK$ 1,000,000 from the Yale-China Association in U.S.A. Another hostel with a capacity of 96 will be built between New Asia College and United College. Construction work will commence in November 1977 and the anticipated completion date is September 1978. Bethlehem Co., Ltd. has donated HK$ 1,900,000 to cover the entire construction cost. Over-populated Hong Kong has an acute land shortage. The Chinese University of Hong Kong was exceptionally fortunate in acquiring from the Hong Kong Government 331 acres of land as its campus site. Thanks to the far-sightedness of the Government and the University, the campus has been developed in a short period of time and the provision of hostel places has been vigorously taken up. Student hostels have the pronounced advantage of saving students' time and energy spent on com muting between home and school, and they also play a significant role in the educational process. First, community life constitutes an important part of university education. Students who are denied a hostel place are also denied a proper share of the university community life. As commuters, they are precluded, to a certain extent, from participating in most student activities, and from frequent contacts and discussions with their peers outside the classroom and are thus deprived of the joys and benefits of inter action. Furthermore, residing in a student hostel is one of the best preparatory ways to learn how to live with others. Secondly, the essence of student-orientated teaching, as proposed in the Fulton Report and adopted by the University, is a closer teacher-student relationship. Although it is impossible for us to de velop student-orientated teaching into the Fellow sys tem adopted by certain famous British universities, it is still possible to make student-orientated teaching a success at this University, accommodating more students in hostels being one of the means. Living in