6.7 The Government will adopt other measures designed to increase further the number of students on degree courses. First, the Government will ask the universities to prepare proposals for part-time degree courses, designed mainly for mature students. The time of introduction and the number of students to be enrolled will be decided when the costs have been estimated but the Government hopes to establish by the mid-1980's a combined total at both universities of about 1,000 students on these courses.
6.8 The Polytechnic will be invited to advise whether a limited degree programme would be a desirable development and, if so, to prepare proposals. The Polytechnic will be asked to advise also on the most suitable arrangements for validation of any such degree awards. These proposals will be considered by the UPGC before final decisions are taken by the Government.
6.9 By the early 1980's, when its present expansion programme has been completed, the Polytechnic will accommodate about 12,000 full-time and equivalent part-time students (providing for a total student body of nearly 30,000 according to the present student mix). Its main premises at Hung Hom do not allow for much further expansion and its population will be held stable at about this level, so that overcrowding does not occur. The Government will provide for the con- tinued expansion of technician and commercial education by enabling the Polytechnic to concen- trate a greater proportion of its work at the Higher Diploma and Higher Certificate levels, and by providing for some of its present ordinary Diploma and Certificate courses to be taken over by the technical institutes, though a substantial proportion of the Polytechnic's work will remain at the ordinary Diploma and Certificate level.
6.10 There will be six technical institutes with the completion of the institutes at Kowloon Tong and Tuen Mun; all are located in major centres of population and industry. While their prime function will remain the provision of craft-level courses and it is intended that their craft-level enrolments should reach the 33,000 envisaged in the Green Paper, all the institutes are capable of further expansion quite rapidly, through the building of extra storeys or annexes, to meet additional demand at the technician level. The technical institutes are well suited to provide ordinary Diploma and Certificate programmes with a good complement of practical experience, including programmes for the commercial and service industries. As larger units, providing a more diversified spread of craft, technician and commercial courses, the technical institutes should be able to operate on a more cost-effective basis and to offer better facilities for the students. It is intended that the facilities for the Diploma and Certificate courses in the technical institutes should be at the same standard as similar courses in the Polytechnic.
6.11 It is proposed to expand capacity of the technical institutes in this way in the early 1980's. The extent of such developments will depend on the extent to which the existing planned capacity for technician courses within the technical institutes is found to be inadequate. Additional accommodation for Morrison Hill Technical Institute will become available in the annex in the Victoria Technical School building, when the part which is to be occupied temporarily by the Technical Teachers' College from 1979 is vacated, upon the opening of new premises for the College in Kowloon Tong.
6.12 By these means there will be developed an ample and well-balanced spread of technical and commercial courses at the craft, technician, higher technician, technologist and professional levels. At each level, priority will be given to part-time courses which are integrated with employment, through which students will gain the practical job experience which will complement their studies and enable them to understand the practical relevance of what they have learned.
6.13 There will continue to be close consultation between the Polytechnic and technical institutes over the planning of courses, so that technician education in the various institutions can
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