Newsletter No. 129

2 No. 129 19th June 1998 CUHK Newsletter Study Finds Depression a Cause for Elderly Suicide H ong Kong is ageing rapidly and the population of people aged 65 or above is now 10 per cent. Among the problems associated with the ageing population is elderly suicide, the frequency of which is three times that of western countries. One important contributing factor is depression. A study conducted by the University's Department of Psychiatry revealed that half of the elderly people in Hong Kong who commit suicide are sufferers of depression. The number of people aged 65 or above suffering from depressive disorders is estimated to be about 20,000 to 30,000. Of the 1,034 elderly people interviewed in the study, seven per cent were diagnosed as suffering from geriatric depression, with two in every three being women. The study also found that those living in homes for the aged are over twice more likely to suffer from depression than those living with family or alone. Currently only five per cent of elderly people with depressive disorders in Hong Kong are receiving treatment. Symptoms of depression include loss of interest in life, loss of appetite, lethargy, and insomnia. Mycological Association of Hong Kong Meets on Campus T he second annual meeting of the Mycological Association of Hong Kong (MAHK) was held at the University on 29th May. It included a guest lecture, 'Mycology and the Australian Eucalypt Forest', delivered by Dr. Jack Simpson, president of the Australasian Mycological Society. The remainder of the scientific programme consisted of oral and poster presentations covering a wide range of mycological topics including fungal physiology and biochemistry, molecular mycology, fungal ecology and systematics, and applied mycology. The meeting was attended by over 40 mycologists from the University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, and The Chinese University. Ms. Deng Yu, an M.Phil, student from the University's Department of Biology, was awarded the association's annual prize for the best student presentation, and a design by Mr. Jake Tang, also from the Department of Biology, was selected as the official MAHK logo. MArch Students Model Youngsters' Dream School T here w i l l be secondary school buildings as tall as skyscrapers in Central and green fields in secondary school campuses in Hong Kong if the wishes of the secondary students interviewed by the University's Master of Architecture students could be granted. The secondary students, from three government schools in Sha Tin, Ma On Shan, and Tai Po respectively, were interviewed by 11 Master of Architecture students about their views of what an ideal school campus should be. They were also encouraged to express themselves using drawing materials, modelling clay, exercises, and game-playing. The architecture students then translated these concepts into models after studying school designs in Hong Kong, US, Europe, and Singapore, In the process they receivedmuch insightful advice from Prof. Chung Yue-ping of the Faculty of Education, and Prof. Freeman Chan of the Department of Architecture. The students presented their pieces and shared the views of the school students at the opening ceremony of the exhibition of the models on 29th May. The models were then displayed in Room B5 of Ho Tim Building for a week. Pacific Place is another venue for the display of the models UNIVERSITY MANAGEMENT AND FINANCE INTHE21ST CENTURY Full text of a keynote speech delivered by Prof Arthur K.C. Li at a forum on higher education held in Beijing on 2nd and 3rd May 1998 to celebrate the centenary of Peking University Introduction As we move towards the end of the century, publicly-funded universities everywhere are beset with financial problems. In some countries the financial problems amount to no more than a moderate budget cut but in other countries, they have grown to crisis proportions. In advanced countries like the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, publicly-funded universities have tackled funding cuts ranging from a few per cent to over 10 per cent per annum on an almost regular basis in the last two decades or so. The financial situation of universities in the developing world and in the former socialist countries in Central and Eastern Europe is more bleak. In Sub- Saharan Africa, for over a decade in the 1980s, the average public expenditure per student declined from US$6,300 to US$1,500 in real terms. In the Middle East and N o r t h A f r i c a, it declined f r om US$3,200 to US$1,900. I n Hu n g a r y, university recurrent expenditures fell by 21 per cent from 1991 to 1993 (World Bank, 1994). The stringent financial constraints within which publicly-funded universities w i ll have to operate are likely to continue and may even worsen in the 21st century. To maintain and improve quality w i th continuously expanding enrolment when real resources are declining w i ll be one of the major challenges many universities must face in the new century. To meet this challenge in university finance, universities must re-examine their priorities, re-organize their management structure, re-engineer their processes, and diversify their income sources. To better meet the challenge ahead, it is useful to understand the causes of the financial problems of the public universities. Causes of Financial Problems During the last three decades, higher education has been the fastest growing sector of the education system in most countries. Between 1965 and 1990 enrolment ratios in higher education in many countries increased rapidly: from 1 to 9 per cent in North Africa, from 7 to 21 per cent in Latin America, and from 8 to 17 per cent in East Asia. In Hong Kong we also witnessed a rapid expansion in higher education. University enrolment ratio surged from 2 to 3 per cent in the 1970s to the current 18 per cent. There are powerful economic, social, and political forces behind this rapid expansion in higher education in the last several decades. Higher education is recognized as an important investment in human capital which is essential to economic growth. In a world economy that becomes increasingly globalized, governments of countries eager to promote economic growth and increase competitiveness are willing to invest in higher education. Besides economic considerations, social and political groups also champion the cause of higher education expansion following the widening of access to primary and secondary education. Higher education is recognized as an important channel for upward social mobility for the lower and middle classes. Expansion in higher education will provide greater access and more equal educational opportunities to the under-privileged and will therefore reduce social inequality. When economic, social, and political forces join hands, the arguments for expansion in higher education are powerful. Unfortunately the political support for expansion in higher education enrolment has not translated into a corresponding increase in resources for the universities. While everyone in government and politics is enthusiastic about expanding university enrolment to provide more opportunities for school leavers, there is no political will to cut other social spending to make room for this rapid expansion. In many countries adverse macroeconomic conditions make matters worse. Not only has the financial support for higher education not increased in line with expansion in enrolment, in some countries the support has actually declined. The crux of the matter is that the only way to finance rapid expansion in higher education enrolment without substantially cutting other social spending is to reduce the real expenditure for each student. Unfortunately this is the fiscal reality of many countries and the solution opted for by many governments, despite wa r n i n gs by un i v e r s i ty adm i n i s t r a t o rs of its h a r m f ul consequences on education quality. Redu c t i on i n per student real expenditure is mostly driven by fiscal considerations but i n some countries governments disguise their true objectives, shifting the debate on the issue to that of greater accountability and productivity. In a society where political awareness and participation of the citizens are increasing, the call for greater