Bulletin Spring‧Summer 1978

of it. For surely education should be judged by its contribution to the quality of civilization and to the happiness and self-fulfilment of human beings. It is a shortsighted doctrine which looks upon education as an ancillary to the production of material wealth. A graduate school is a centre of scholarship and research as well as teaching. It must try hard to achieve excellence and maintain academic autonomy. By keeping up with and working in the frontiers of human knowledge and by giving advanced training to students, a graduate school is contributing to the long-term needs of society. But it does not follow that graduate education neglects the more pressing short-term problems. A graduate school should also be responsive to immediate social needs. It can accomplish this by organizing refresher courses for graduates holding different jobs, by informing the public on current developments in various fields ， and by undertaking research leading to the solution of pressing problems relevant to society. Institutional Interchange in Graduate Education I now come to the third topic: institutional interchange in graduate education. Is there a need for such interchange? I think the answer is an emphatic yes. Although to the non-Asians, all Asians look alike and the South-East Asian region is a small region in the world of politics, to us the region is the meeting place of several great civilizations including Chinese, Buddhist, Hindu and Islam and each of the peoples has its own colourful but different cultural heritage. Many of us have also been exposed at different times to western and Christian influences. With such diver sity, there is so much we can learn from one another. So far, interchange in graduate education is not formal or organized. Teachers at one university may from time to time accept invitations to become external examiners of postgraduate students of another university or during their sabbatical year, even take up a teaching appointment at a Graduate School elsewhere in the region. Graduates from universities in Hong Kong may pursue their higher degree studies in Singapore, Bangkok or Manila. All these however are done on an individual basis. If we are to encourage a sense of fellowship among members of the ASAIHL, affirmative action must be sought to promote more meaningful interchange. Besides, such interchange will be of real benefit to the postgraduate students in the region because of the relatively lower costs and greater relevance. If we are to institutionalize interchange in postgraduate education, the task is formidable and the magnitude of the difficulties great. Even when the political atmosphere is cordial, there are still many factors to be considered such as mutual recognition of qualifications, compatibility of academic emphases, difference in the medium of instruction and costs. But what man has done before man can do again and if universities in Hong Kong can sustain satisfactory graduate exchange pro­ grammes with institutions in North America and the United Kingdom there is no reason why they cannot establish equally good or even better programmes with universities in South-East Asia. Naturally, dele gates to this Seminar have come with expert ideas on how institutional interchange in graduate education can be carried out and I shall be most delighted to hear them speak on this subject. But I do want to put in a few words on the role of the ASAIHL in this. For institutional interchange in graduate education to be implemented through regional cooperation under the aegis of ASAIHL, there are several possibilities. The least ASAIHL can do is to act as a clearing house for information on postgraduate education in its members' institutions, including information on admission criteria, course requirements, costs and scholarships. Then the ASAIHL can also sponsor various interchange pro­ grammes to suit the needs of member institutions. Then ASAIHL can arrange for the interchange of staff and students, with grants and scholarships if available. The ideal situation is perhaps for ASAIHL to establish a centre for postgraduate education, com­ plete with research and degree study facilities. It will be a school mainly for regional or area studies where teachers from member institutions may spend their sabbatical year to contribute to teaching or research and postgraduate students may read for a higher degree or be attached for credit-earning courses. Through concerted regional effort, this project can certainly be achieved. The above points have been put forward because I sincerely believe that members of ASAIHL recognize the need for cooperation in postgraduate education in order to promote the total welfare of the region. The fact that we are meeting today is a sure sign that there is a keen interest among members in this subject. Let us hope that ASAIHL will help promote regional understanding, if not regional brotherhood. 6