Bulletin Special Supplement Summer 2015

在任期間，哪項工作給你最大的滿足 感？ 那應該視乎哪項工作對大學有最長遠的 正面影響。我想到的有三項：成立五所 新書院，加強國際化，以及改由遴選委 員會委任學院院長。 成立新書院是一個長期計劃，意念很早 便醞釀了。當時我們想，通訊發達，大 型網上公開課程興起，日後全世界也許 只需要十個星級教師就夠了，無論是物 理、數學、經濟學，只要找到最好的教 授，把他們的課放在網上，學生隨時隨 地可以看到。他們學識高，教學精良， 是難以匹敵的。要為大學教育增值，便 要回歸小班教學，書院制能締造適合的 環境。牛津劍橋各有三十多所書院，每 書院學生人數平均都維持在數百，方便 小組導修。當然，像他們一位老師對兩 三位學生，成本也許不易負擔，不過， 十五或二十人一班也挺不錯了。中大既 有書院制的寶貴傳統，也有得天獨厚的 地理環境，應該加強推廣。 五所新書院的規模都較傳統書院小，容 What accomplishments during your term as CUHK’s Vice- Chancellor gave you the greatest satisfaction? It depends on what brings the University the most benefits in the long run. I can think of three: the establishment of five new Colleges, the promotion of internationalization, and the change of the method of recruitment of faculty deans from by election to by search committees. The establishment of new Colleges was a long-term plan. The idea had been incubated for quite a long time. At that time we thought that with the advancement in communication technologies and the advent of Massive Open Online Courses, the world might need a dozen superstar professors only. If you can find the best professors and put their lectures online, be they on physics, mathematics or economics, students can view them anytime, anywhere. These professors are unrivalled in their knowledge and pedagogy. In order to add value to higher education, we have to return to smaller class sizes, and a college system will help create a desirable environment. Oxford and Cambridge are made up of some 30 colleges each, and each college accommodates several hundred students on average, so as to facilitate effective supervision and tutorials. Of course, it is financially not very viable for us to have a teacher-student ratio of one to two or three like they do. But it is still desirable to have 15 or 20 students in a class. CUHK has a much cherished college system, and an enviable natural environment. College education is a niche of ours that we should promote. 32 中文大學校刊 Chinese University Bulletin Special Supplement