Bulletin Number Three 1984

PROFILES Mr. T.C. LAI Director, Department of Extramural Studies Joining the exodus of Hong Kong residents during the Sino-Japanese War was Mr. Lai Tien-chang. Fresh from the University of Hong Kong, he made his way to fatherland and worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Allied victory, however, brought Mr. Lai back to Hong Kong. Here, he stayed at the office of the Commissioner for Kwangtung and Kwangsi for one year before he was transferred to the Chinese Embassy in London. Just when Mr. Lai felt he had hit the right career path, China's government changed hands. 1949 was Mr. Lai's last year in the diplomatic service. What marked a new era for China was also a turning point for Mr. Lai. Back in Hong Kong for the second time, he started an import-export business. Had Mr. Lai persisted in his import-export business, he would have deprived Hong Kong students of a good teacher, denied himself the chance of breaking new grounds for adult learners which includes introducing Chinese Studies in a down-to- earth way. Hindsight now says that Mr. Lai made the right decision when he switched to teaching. Today, people who have profited by the scholarship and the imaginative ingenuity of Mr. Lai are all over the world. We may be able to keep count of Mr. Lai's students from Queen's College, St. Paul's Co-Educational College, and the Hong Kong University's English Department with the aid of a computer, but it would be quite impossible to gauge the impact of his contribution to the field of continuing education. Mr. Lai's devotion to the education of adult students began in 1958 when he was appointed Assistant to the Director of the Department of Extramural Studies at the University of Hong Kong. It was his business to see what people wanted to learn and to provide them with the opportunities. The undertaking was novel enough at that time, and soon Mr. Lai found himself at Manchester University, the mecca for Adult Education professionals. A year later, he returned as Hong Kong's first professional trained in the field of continuing education. The pioneering professionalism of Mr. Lai was duly acknowledged in 1965 when The Chinese University invited him to be the first Deputy Director of Extramural Studies. And what a deputy! Staffing the new-bom department on a shoe-string and then getting 3,500 people to sign up for 139 courses was certainly no mean feat to start with. By 1983 ， the annual enrolment rose to 35,000, and the number of courses increased to 1,000. Over the years, courses offered in the classrooms, through correspondence, for self-study, via television, in cooperation with leading newspapers have all been designed to cater to persons in all walks of life. The achievement of course designers (officially graded as Executive Officer, Administrative Assistant, Staff Tutor and Senior Staff Tutor) owes not a little to the democratic leadership of Mr. Lai. He gives his staff complete freedom and everyone is allowed to develop his or her own potentialities at his or her own pace. Because Mr. Lai never interferes in the work of his staff, his staff feel totally responsible for the department's performance. While tolerance is his guiding principle, and giving people a second chance his normal practice, Mr. Lai is always quick to see justice done when disputes arise between members of staff. Mr. Lai's promotion to the Directorship came in 1970, coinciding with the publication of A Scholar PROFILES 21