Newsletter No. 60

CUHK Newsletter had a total population of a few hundred. Secondly, in this age when people are bombarded with new information every minute of the day, there are simply too many distractions and new demands on students' time, time which their predecessors would have spent on college life. Then the new academic system, whereby many students are able to complete the undergraduate programme in three years, also means more work and less time for college activities. Fourthly, many students regard their years at university as merely a transient phase in life; the hostel is little more than a place to sleep at night and it never occurs to them that they can learn to communicate with others, to organize activities and develop extracurricular interests in the college. The last factor is specific to Shaw: as there are no classrooms in that college, teaching activities have to be scattered all over the campus. Thus students' sense of belonging is further undermined. The Rol e of Colleges Needs Redefinitio n 'Ithas to be acknowledged that the environment which fostered the traditional college spirit and functions during the fifties and sixties are now gone forever. I think it helps if we could be a little more practical in coping with modern day society and, in redefining the role of the colleges, adjust our expectation of what the colleges can do accordingly,' Prof. Yeung said. He maintains, however, that the colleges still have their essential and indispensable function, namely, that of playing a complementary role in the University's operation to help build cordial relations and peer goodwill among teachers and students, through lectures and seminars by visiting distinguished scholars, exchange programmes, and sports and recreational programmes. If the colleges were to be dispensed with, then the University administration would have to take up student services all by itself, and students may not necessarily benefit from such a monolithic environment. 'The collegiate system is a precious tradition of The Chinese University, and our aim to provide a holistic education would be hard to achieve if we were to lose the colleges,' Prof. Yeung added. T o students today, the hostel is little more than a place to sleep at night. 11