Bulletin Number Five 1983

Publication of Vice-chancel lors Report The Vice-Chancellor's Report 1978-1982 has recently been published. In hisReport, Dr. Ma Lin recapitulates the development o f the University in the first four years o f his tenure. The 258-pageReport comprises six chapters: Introduction; Council, Staff and Students; Academic Developments; Institutional Development and Facilities; Academic Exchange and Outside Links; Looking Ahead. In addition, concrete statistical data and other details are recorded in the sixteen Appen­ dices, including twenty-two statistical tables. In the 'Introduction', Dr. Ma recalls that 'When Dr. Choh-Ming Li, my predecessor, retired from the Vice-Chancellorship o f the University in 1978 ， the University was then just fifteen years old. The history o f the University from its establishment in 1963 to the time o f the departure o f Dr. L i in 1978 can roughly be divided into three periods, which were covered by his three reports: The First Six Years (1963-69), The Emerging University (1970-74) and A New Era Begins (1975-78). . .. After fifteen years o f hard work, Dr. Choh-Ming Li accomplished three things: he enunciated the basic goals and orientations o f the University; he brought the University together on a magnificent and well-planned campus; and he steered the University into a new institutional frame­ work suitable for its future development.' When Dr. Ma became Vice-Chancellor, it could be said that his task was ‘relatively simpler than the founding Vice-Chancellor, even though in some aspects it might well be even more arduous'. He pointed out that: ‘to consolidate and work out details o f its new structure; to expand into those professional areas such as Business Administration and Medicine for which a beginning had been made, but solid work was yet required for putting them on a firm footing; to continue an ambitious building programme for accommodating all these activities; and, last but not least, to tru ly come to grips w ith the goals and ideals o f the University: to guide the development o f unique teaching and research programmes, and to cultivate a congenial atmosphere and establish a living tradition in accordance w ith the object o f developing abilingual institution dedicated to the advancement and synthesis o f Chinese and Western scholarship. While I believe the University has had moderate success in meeting the first three tasks, it has met its greatest challenge in the last. This is not for want o f talents or dedication or resources, but simply because it is a creative function which calls for search and trial rather than diligent adaptation o f experience already gained elsewhere. Thus, to put it very simply, during the last four years, that is from 1978 to 1982, the University had been attempting to consolidate its foundation on the one hand, and to search for new directions on the other.' On looking back, the most significant academic development was clearly the establishment o f the Faculty o f Medicine. Besides, the University also saw the introduction o f the PhD programmes at the graduate level and the part-time degree programmes at the undergraduate level. It is most significant that the Vice-Chancellor's Report was published on the occasion o f the Twentieth Anniversary o f the University. NEWS 15