Bulletin Summer‧Autumn 1993

Thefirs t batch o f m edical graduates a n d the ir teachers (1986) Par t- time Degree Programmes A n o the r major thrust in this p e riod was the in tro d u c tio n o f the undergraduate P a rt-tim e D egree P rogrammes fo r m a tu re s tu d e n ts w it h w o r k in g experience. In response to dem on­ strated social demand and governm ent e n c o u ra g em e n t, p a rt-tim e deg ree p rog ramm es in fo u r subjects, i.e. business adm inistration, Chinese and English, music, and social w o rk were launched in 1981 and 1982. P ro vi sio na l Acceptance Scheme Y e t another inn o va tio n was in troduced in the area o f student adm ission. In 1983 a P rovisional Acceptance Scheme w h ic h aimed at reducing the pressure o f p u b lic exam inations on students was launched. Students w h o had taken the Certificate o f Education Exam ination c o u ld a p p ly fo r adm ission to the U n ive rs ity and w o u ld be assessed m ainly on the basis o f their performance in that exam ination. I f the app lication was successful, the student w o u ld be o ffe red p rovisiona l acceptance and be adm itted to the freshman class after passing a non -com petitive scholastic assessment u p o n com p le tion o f a one- year sixth fo rm course. In 1984 about 700 p rovisional acceptance offers w ere made fo r the first time. New C u r r i c u l um w it h Greater Emphasis on General Ed u c at io n a n d Language Proficiency Prior to 1983, the University's curriculum structure was based on a com b ina tion o f the credit u n it system and the degree exam ination system. In 1983, an overall review o f the undergraduate cu rricu lum structure began. The purpose was to design and im p lem e n t a balanced cu rricu lum to reflect the ideals o f the U niversity and to fu rth e r safeguard the q u a lity o f its graduates. Consequently, a n e w c u rric u lum structure based en tire ly on the credit u n it system and emphasizing general education and language p ro ficien cy was in trodu ced in 1986-87. O n this new fo u n d a tio n undergraduate programmes con tinued to g row and diversify. 12