Newsletter No. 73

CUHK Newsletter No. 73 4th September 1995 3 New Publications of HKIAPS The Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies recentlypublished two research papers and a research monograph: • 'Urbanisation in China's Fujian Province since 1978', by Mr. Tang Wing-shing The paper attempts to unveil urbanization in Fujian to the western world by exploring its causal mechanisms and spatial relations. Before 1978, urbanization level was low in the province and the coastal-interior divide in urban development was pronounced. However a new rationality of government after 1978 recognizes the relative autonomy of the economy and the population nature of society. New state policies have been adopted to stimulate economic growth via the intervention of the spatial contingent and the boundary effects. As a result, the countryside is urbanized while cities and towns are ruralized. At the regional level, an urban growth corridor along the coast has also been formed. • The Ambivalence of Local Level Political Elites: Views of the 1994 District Board Election Candidates', by Mr. Ernest Chui Wing- tak The paper examines the 'poverty' of political leaders in the Hong Kong polity. Such poverty is not merely manifested in their number and the absence of a nurturing environment, but more importantly, in the ambivalence of such leaders when they are thrust amidst contending political forces. The paper proposes that a remedy will hinge on: (1) the conciliation between the British 一 Hong Kong and Chinese governments which wi ll eradicate conflicting claims to political allegiance; (2) the leaders' determination to take up politics as a vocation; (3) local people's demonstration of their desire for a liberal democratic environment. • 'Productivity, Efficiency and Reform in China's Economy', edited by Drs. Tsui Kai-yuen, Hsueh Tien- tung, and Thomas G. Rawski The monograph discusses in 12 chapters the rapid economic growth in mainland China and Taiwan, in relation to productivity, efficiency, and reform, as well as the problems it has generated. The two research papers are written in English with Chinese abstracts, and sold at HK$30 per copy. The monograph is written in English and sold at $100 per copy. Those interested please contact the HKIAPS at 2609 8770. Service to the Community and International Organizations * Prof. Lee Shiu-hung of theDepartmentof Community and Family Medicine has been nominated by the University to serveas a member of the Supplementary Medical Professions Council from 1st October 1995 to 30th June 1997; Prof. Lee has also been appointed by HE the Governor as a member of the Occupational Deafness Compensation Board for three years from 1st June 1995. * Dr. Daniel T. L. Shek, senior lecturer in social work, has been re-appointed by HE the Governor as (1) a member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal for two years from 1st July 1995; (2) a Justice of the Peace for Hong Kong from 24th July 1995. * Mr. Chu Tah-wen, visiting scholar in architecture, has been nominated by the University to serve as a member of the Appeal Board Panel to be established under the Builders' Lifts and Tower Working Platform (Safety Ordinance) for a term of three years. * Prof. Rance P. L. Lee, head of Chung Chi College, was appointed Advisory Professor by Fudan University on 27th May 1995. * Dr. Leslie N. K.Lo, dean of education, has been appointed by the Secretary for Education and Manpower as a member of the Board of Education for one year from 1st July 1995; Dr. Lo has also been appointed by the University Grants Committee as a member of its Audit Panel for Teaching and Learning Quality Process Audits from 28th June 1995. * Prof. Leslie Young of the Department of Finance has been appointed by the Secretary for Education and Manpower as a member of the Committee on Management and Supervisory Training of the Vocational Training Council from 24th July 1995 to 31st March 1996. * Prof. K. M. Chan of the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology has been elected president of the Asia-Pacific Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine from 1995 to 1997; Prof. Chan has also been elected as a board member of the International Society for Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine from 1995 to 1999. * Dr. Stephen C. K. Chan, lecturer in English, has been invited by the University Grants Committee to serve as specialist referee for its Research Grants Council for the year 1995-96. * Dr. P. C. Ching, reader in electronic engineering, has been appointed by the Secretary for Education and Manpower as a member of the Committee on Technical Education from 24th July 1995 to 31st March 1997. * Dr. Lee Sing, senior lecturer in psychiatry, has been appointed by the Commissioner for Narcotics as a member of the Action Committee Against Narcotics Sub- Committee on Research from May 1995 to 31st December 1996. * Dr. Simon S. M. Ho, senior lecturer in accountancy, has been appointed as a member of the Public Education Sub- Committee of the Independent Commission Against Corruption from 1st July 1995 to 31st December 1996. * Dr. Anthony P. C. Yim, visiting lecturer in surgery, has been invited to serve as (1) Visiting Professor in Cardiothoracic Surgery of Guangzhou Medical University; (2) member of the Advisory Editorial Board of The Journal of Clinical Bio-engineering; and (3) member of the Editorial Board of The Asia Pacific Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, for a term of two years. (Allinformation in this section is provided by the Information and Public Relations Office. Contributions should be sent direct to that office for registration and verification before publication.) Letter to the Editor I found one paragraph in Prof. Liu Pak- wai's article 'An Update on the New Funding Model' (19th June) very interesting. Prof. Liu starts by saying that the UGC has found that 'there are no reliable and acceptable performance indicators of teaching quality that may be utilized.' He goes on to say that the UGC has nevertheless launched 'a perennial exercise in teaching and learning quality process audit to reward and improve teaching qua l i t y . . . ' , and that the University is to first review its own teaching quality assurance mechanisms. What Prof. Liu says there is backed up by the recently circulated 'Information Package on TLQPA', except in one respect: the speech by the chairman of the UGC published as Annex A explicitly rules out any intention to reward teaching quality, presumably for the reason given 一 that there are no reliable indicators of performance. This is the first point that needs clarification. I have tried to make sense of the distinction between performance (which cannot be measured) and processes (which can be audited). I think we all know what performance is. It would appear that processes are the mechanisms by which teaching programmes are formulated and monitored: course descriptions, examination procedures, grade distribution, external examiners' reports, course evaluation questionnaires, etc. These mechanisms form the environment in which teaching and learning take place. CUHK, in common with all other institutions I know of in Hong Kong, has a formidable and intricate array of such mechanisms, and should score high marks, along with the others. The question that the UGC wants to pursue, to rephrase the chairman's words (Annex A, p.5), is whether they just look good on paper, or whether they actually 'have an impact on improving teaching and learning quality' . If 'teaching and learning quality' means the effectiveness of classroom teaching and the quality of the students' work, then it would seem that performance is to be indicated after all. Now among the mechanisms/ processes listed in the 'Information Package', two have a direct bearing on performance: the student course evaluations, which relate to the teaching, and the external examiners' reports, which relate mainly to the students' written work. Though both of these may contain useful pointers, they are admitted to be insufficiently 'reliable' to be acceptable measures of performance. So, if you can't determine what the quality of teaching and learning is, how can you tell whether the processes have an impact or not? How can you get from what should be (judged by the processes) to what is (the performance)? If you could call back to life the judges Pao and Dee they might in tandem provide the answer, but as it is, I think we are just meant to sit back and admire the UGC and the University for their Confucian virtue of 'persisting in doing a thing, knowing it cannot be done'. On second thoughts, I take back 'sit back'. We will all be required to write reports to say how good we are. David Pollard Department of Translation