Bulletin Winter 1977

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S SPEECH At these Congregations I do not normally give a formal address. Today ， however, I am making an exception in response to the requests o f faculty mem­ bers and students. I have agreed to make some remarks about a matter that has long been on my mind and in my heart — The Chinese University o f Hong Kong, its character and its aspirations. It was my great privilege and honour to partici­ pate in the Congregation at which The Chinese Univer­ sity o f Hong Kong conferred its first degrees upon its own graduates. That was indeed amomentous occasion 一 momentous for higher education in Hong Kong; momentous for the Chinese people o f Hong Kong, particularly their young men and women; momentous for me as the first Vice-Chancellor o f the Chinese University. I well remember how deeply moved I was to see the very first graduate stand before the Chancel­ lor for the formal conferment o f the degree. And as I watch here today the same ceremonial proceedings, I am again deeply moved, realizing that the University has now reached the ripe age o f fourteen. A Young University The Chinese University is indeed a young univer­ sity. Compared to the centuries-old universities o f other countries, it is a mere infant. This comparison might suggest that the Chinese University suffers some undefined disadvantages because o f its tender years. Quite the contrary, in my view. The youth o f the Chinese University is a great asset, a source o f strength and flexib ility to grow and to adapt to rapidly chan­ ging conditions o f our present-day world. Moreover, we associate youth w ith high aspirations, w ith creative energy, and w ith determination. These are the quali­ ties, I think, that characterize this young Chinese University. The need for adaptability and creativity in insti­ tutions o f higher learning is apparent in virtually all countries o f the world. The second half o f this century has been marked by two monumental explosions 一 the explosion o f population and the explosion o f knowledge. Countless new countries have come into being. Scientific and technological knowledge has been expanding exponentially. More new knowledge is pro­ duced in a single decade than was produced in past centuries. The mere processing o f information has become a science in itself. Both o f these explosions present great challenges to universities, which have by definition the primary responsibility to deal w ith knowledge in all its forms and functions, and thereby to serve the needs o f their respective societies. In de­ veloping countries, universities are rightly regarded as major instruments o f social, economic, technological, and cultural advancement. To meet these complex demands, universities must have the kind o f organiza­ tion and programme that can respond effectively to those demands. Long established universities w ith rigid struc­ tures reflecting societies long since gone, encrusted w ith irrelevant traditions, and burdened by vested interests — these venerable institutions all too often find themselves out o f touch w ith present-day realities and unable to respond effectively to the needs o f their respective societies. In most countries, and particularly in Asia, such institutions are seeking w ith great d if­ ficulty to break out o f their inherited moulds, or to introduce new ideas and methods into outmoded forms. The struggle for self-renewal among such universities w ill continue for years, because the inertia o f the past is formidable, making responsive change d ifficu lt, if not impossible. Thus we, as a young uni­ versity, respect and venerate our long established sister institutions, but we do not envy them. lik e all universities, The Chinese University o f Hong Kong was established to meet certain needs o f its society — in this case, adynamic and intellectually free society, in which a huge Chinese population re­ flecting afive-thousand-year-old culture constructively interacts w ith a Western population to produce one o f the world's most flourishing business and industrial societies. From this bi-modal society, this East-West interdependence, the Chinese University derives both its conventional educational objectives and its distinc­ tive educational mission. These two inter-related goals or purposes have shaped the character and develop­ 14