Bulletin Number Five 1985

Thirtiet h Congregatio n The University held its Thirtieth Congregation for the Conferment o f First Degrees a t the University Mall on 12th December, 1985. His Excellency the Chancellor, Sir Edward Youde ， officiated at the ceremony. The Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Ma Lin ， addressed the Congregation o f over 4,000 graduates, parents and guests. This year, a total o f 1,034 graduates received their bachelor's degrees. 251 of them were awarded the Bachelor of Arts, 207 the Bachelor of Business Administration, 267 the Bachelor o f Science, and 309 the Bachelor of Social Science. Address by Dr. Ma Lin Mr. Chancellor ， ladies and gentlemen, colleagues and students, After three years of tension and anxiety, Hong Kong has now finally gone through a major political turning point. It will still have a long journey to make through the next decade or so, during which i t is to change from a British administered territory into a highly autonomous Special Administrative Region under the sovereignty of China. In this transitional period, Hong Kong will have to participate in the building of a political system suitable for its future status, t o continue to grow and make progress, and yet at the same time also to keep its basic social and economic systems unchanged. Very much like making a crossing in strong wind across choppy open water, this takes confidence, technical skill as well as the ability o f accurately determining one's bearing and locating the destination, so as t o be able t o finally land at the right spot after a long journey. Would Hong Kong people be able to apply their talents, fortitude and foresight, which have proved so successful in commerce and industry, t o politics as well, and thus survive and thrive in the complicated situation now confronting them? Are there future statesmen with vision and conviction amongst the thousand odd young men and women now seated in front of us? Surely such questions have taken on added importance and urgency at this moment, when Hong Kong people must stand up and speak for themselves. It is common knowledge that for a society to make progress, i t must develop education, and that the expansion of education depends on the availability of sufficient resources and the existence of a suitable framework. And indeed Hong Kong has during the past three decades devoted a great deal of effort to the development of education. Thus the provision of nine years of basic education to all has now become a reality, senior secondary education and technical education i n many forms are fast expanding, and higher education has also grown considerably. All in all, a comprehensive educational system is now taking shape. This is the fruit of a long-term Government policy which ensures a sustained high rate of investment and steady progress: its success and its contribution to the overall development of Hong Kong are here fo r al l o f us t o see. Nevertheless, there a remain a number of problems in this system, which are quite commonly known. Confronted by a fast changing political situation and pressure of increasing competition in international trade, Hong Kong obviously would need even more and yet better education from now on. The further 10 NEWS