Bulletin Winter 1988

periphery of society, serving the learned professions and the higher levels of the civil service with students drawn from the more advantageous elements of so ciety, to a more central position. This more central position involves service to many more professions, occupations and vocations — potentially to perhaps one-quarter or more of the total labour force, and also openness potentially to members of all elements of the population. The wealth of nations now depends on the performance of higher education, as never before, through its contributions to building human capital and accumulated knowledge; and so does the military competition among the great powers. The political health of nations also now depends, and also as never before, on higher education to help create greater opportunity throughout the population and to help break down hereditary class lines. These developments constitute the greatest transformation of higher education in world history.' No wonder the university system is feeling the pressure and must respond by making appropriate changes. Our university has already initiated responses. We are establishing greater contacts with communities both in Hong Kong and overseas through the forma tion of institutes such as the Biotechnology Institute and the Centre of Sports Science and Sports Medicine. We have established joint research programmes with overseas universities and co-supervised Ph.D. students with universities in China. We have appointed indus trial adjunct teaching members, and seconded univer sity staff to run research based services for the com munity. Now we are examining ways and means to deal with the knowledge explosion. By adopting a flexible credit unit system, we seek course structures to increase the breadth of knowledge coverage while coupling it with selected topics that are treated in greater depth. This hopefully will develop in all our students the ability to acquire knowledge and to be ready to renew and replenish such knowledge in a life-long learning mode. In this process a four-year flexible course structure is appropriate. The normal length of four years gives ample time for a student to