Bulletin Number Two 1985
students may be admitted into the third year of the part-time Master's programme. Research Activities Research plays an important part in the life of the Department. Staff and postgraduate students, and to some extent undergraduates, are engaged in studies on social services, social work practice, problems of youth, and the status of the elderly in our society. The Department believes that research and teaching go hand in hand, and that social work practice demands constant evaluation. Increasingly, there is among students as well as staff an interest in Chinese social services, and members of the Department are involved in this new area of research. Community Involvement Since social work is an applied social science which demands integration of theory with practice and at the same time, owing to the continuous request by the Government and voluntary agencies for consultation and assistance, the social work staff spend a somewhat higher proportion of time in the field than is common among other academic disciplines. The staff make their contributions to the social service sector and the social work profession by serving on various government advisory committees and agency boards, consultation with the social welfare agencies, active participation in professional organizations at the local, regional, and international level, and giving talks and seminars both locally and abroad. Future Development After rapid expansion over the last few years, the Department looks forward to a period of consolidation. Student enrolment will in all likelihood be held fairly steady. This breathing space will allow staff to concentrate on teaching, especially field instruction, and research. The Department has been advocating for some time greater freedom for students in their choice of courses to encourage a broad general education in addition to professional training. The proposed curriculum revision of the University should make this more feasible, and the Department greets the development enthusiastically. Postgraduate education will receive increasing emphasis, a trend throughout the University as it grows in maturity. The Department plans to start a small doctoral programme in 1986. The programme will be primarily research-oriented, culminating in a PhD dissertation. A doctoral programme contributes not only to strengthening postgraduate studies but indirectly provides greater depth and breadth to undergraduate education. Professor John F. Jones Professor of Social Work Professor John F. Jones (b.1929) is a native of Ireland where he received his early education at Clongowes Wood College, made famous before his time by James Joyce, and at University College Dublin. He did his postgraduate studies at the Universities of Michigan and Minnesota, where he earned his master's degrees in Social Work and in Public Administration, and his doctorate. Professor Jones first came to Hong Kong in the 1950s, when he taught at Wah Yan College. Returning a decade later, he lectured at the University of Hong Kong and the old United College on Bonham Road. Just prior to coming to Hong Kong — for the third time — nine years ago, Professor Jones was Dean of the University of Minnesota's School of Social Development, which he founded in 1971 and to which he gave the focus of integrated development involving economic, political and social progress. His interest in this area is summed up in a book which he and Rama S. Pandey edited, Social Development: Conceptual, Methodological and Policy Issues. His other abiding research interests are group process and small group teaching. He is at present engaged in research with colleagues in his Department on the teaching function of social group work. Professor Jones has authored or edited half a dozen books, among which is one on Hong Kong's social services, The Common Welfare, published by The Chinese University Press in association with the United Nations Social Welfare and Development Centre for Asia and the Pacific. Professor Jones has held office in many international and national professional bodies, including the International Council on Social Welfare and the (U.S.) National Association of Social Workers. He has held senior visiting posts at the University of Wisconsin and Case Western Reserve University. His hobbies are those of his six- and nine-year old children, Kiki and Sean — computers and story books. With Lois his wife, a librarian, he plays tennis regularly. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS 11
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