Calendar 2002–03

TheUniversity 63 Origin The University has its origin in three post-secondary colleges: New Asia College (founded 1949), ChungChi College (founded 1951), and The United College of Hong Kong (founded 1956), which drew,in their early days, a sizeable proportion of their teachers and some of their students from mainland China. In 1957, these three colleges came together to form the Chinese Colleges Joint Co uncil with the objective of securing government recognition of their efforts in providing higher education for the young people of Hong Kong. In 1959, Mr. John S. Fulton (later Lord Fulton of Falmer) was invited to advise on the general lines of development for thethree colleges as a whole. In 1960, the government introduced the Post-Secondary CollegesOrdinance andRegulations, which ap proved financial support to the three colleges with a view to raising their academic standards. In 1961, a University Preparatory Committee, chaired by Dr. the Hon. Sir Cho-Yiu Kwan, was app ointed to advise on sites and bu ildings, and matters relating to the establishment of the University. A group of advisers from Britain and the United States visited Hong Kong in the same year to advise the colleges on the development of university level courses in arts, science, commerce, and social science. The report of these advisers was encouraging, and in 1962 the governmentappointed a commission under the chairmanship of Mr. John S.Fulton to consider and determine whether and how aChinese university could be created from the three colleges. The Repor t of the Fulton Commission, known as the Fulton Report and published in April 1963, recommended the establishment of a new university. Sh ortly af ter its publication, the Repo rt was appr oved in princip le by the g o ver nmen t. A Pr o v isio nal Co u n cil was set up in Ju ne 1 96 3 , an d The Chinese University of Hong Kong Ordinance and Statutes were enacted in September of the same year. On 17th October 1963 the University was formally inaugurated. T he University