Bulletin Number Three

Dr. Ma Lin at CUHK: Photo Album to the background of our political system and the particular circumstances and commercial requirements of Hong Kong, a cultural dualism lacking proper balance has pervaded for years: Chinese has been regarded as the language of ordinary intercourse while English is the language of administration, and of businessmen and is used in professional circles —each language prevailing in its own watertight compartment. Moreover, our education system has largely left the cultural needs of the community in sorry neglect, and the Chinese language for a long time has struggled in vain for a reasonable status. The pursuance of our policy of bilingualism in our teaching programmes has indeed not been easy, its success presupposes the cooperation and support of our teachers and students as well as the whole community. The University not only provides specialized and professional education, it also emphasizes general education, which sharpens the mind of the students, cultivates in them an awareness of the nature of the society of Hong Kong, of the culture of China, and the world at large, and develops in them a sense of responsibility. University education is the passing on to the younger generation of the best in our cultural heritage; it is also the process of acquiring the sensibilities and skills necessary to extending our knowledge and to creating a better society. This is why I agree with the observation of R.A. Hodgkin of the University of Oxford that many of the crucial educational problems are now clustered around the issues of maintaining and enhancing each individual's competence for coping both with life and with his inherited creative powers. Creative powers cannot be developed when the knowledge a student has possessed lacks breadth. I do not intend to discuss in detail the doubts about the effectiveness of secondary education in Hong Kong as this has been thoroughly dealt with by professional educationalists over the years. At present, the most that a tertiary educational institution can do is to remedy in its own way the shortcomings of our system. I am glad to say that by adopting a four-year undergraduate course, The Chinese University has been able to cope successfully with Hong Kong's own peculiar education system. Q. When Cai Yuanpei delivered his inaugural address as President of Peking National University in January 1911’ he defined the University, above everything else ， as a place where advanced research work is to be carried out. You said in your installation speech that the primary mission of the University does not end with the imparting of existing knowledge to its students; a university should also be able to point out to society new directions and objectives, thereby fulfilling its intellectual responsibility to Hong Kong and to Chinese culture. You have fulfilled your responsibility as a Vice- Chancellor by leading the University with vision during the last nine years; would you care to tell us something about your opinion on the relations between the academic and society? A. Apart from the pursuit of economic growth, a truly modem society as such must, to a considerable extent, harmonize and integrate the diverse cultures, views and value systems of its members. That is the requisite condition for cohesion to develop, for a sense of belonging to grow, and for the emergence of a common will and judgment whereby the community as a whole can rise to new challenges. To encourage the society to perform such functions, scholars and students at an academic institution not only can play an important 4