Bulletin Number Three 1985

An Interview wi th Professor Y.T. Chung Dean of Business Administration Q. There are altogether three Departments and an MBA Division in the Faculty of Business Administration. Do they have any common objectives and emphases? A. Yes. Their common objectives are actually the main objectives of the Faculty. Generally speaking, the Faculty aims at preparing men and women for responsible administrative and executive positions in business, the Government and other organizations. We provide students with an all-round basic education i n substantially all analytical and functional area s of business administration and with opportunities for a moderate concentration in a particular area of organizational or administrative activity. In teaching students, we help them develop their ability to identify and analyz e problems, search for relevant information, formulate alternative approaches, evaluate the alternatives and make decisions. We also help them to lay a good foundation for continuing self-education and development. In addition to our responsibilities to the students, we contribute, through academic research, to the growth of knowledge and understanding of business management, and serve the Hong Kong and Southeast Asian business communities by offering advanced training in management sciences for practising businessmen. Q. Will there be any changes in the organization and the curriculum of the Faculty in the near future? A. The University is at present reviewing its curriculum and our Faculty is considering a common curriculum for the first and second years of all the three Departments. There will of course still be specialized programmes fo r the upper years. We will furthe r discuss this proposal in our next Faculty Board Meeting. As to the organization, we have at present some sixty teachers, each belonging to either a Department or the Division. In other words, there are two groups of teachers, one teaching undergraduate courses and the other MBA programmes. How to make better use of the existing personnel is ou r major concern at present. By pooling the two groups o f teachers together and assigning them to one of the Departments, we will have more teachers teaching both the undergraduate and postgraduate courses. However, a decision on effecting any changes has still to be made. Q. How does the BBA programme of this University compare with those of British and American universities? A. British universities adopt the Degree Examination system and American universities the credit unit system. In British universities, students enjoy much freedom in the attending of classes. As long as they pass their Degree Examination, they will graduate. The American system is more stringent and requires th e students to take certain courses, each carrying a certain number of units. For each course, RECENT DEVELOPMENTS 13