Education
CONFIDENTIAL
E. Prince of Wales Fund for Training
in New Technologies
£2.769 million
Details of all these proposals and their costs are
Annexes A-E.
set out in
5. During his visit to Hong Kong in January, the Secretary of State discussed these proposals with the British Council representative and expressed particular interest in support for English Language teaching, given the relatively poor standard of English spoken by many of the Chinese he met.
ARGUMENT
Assessment of the proposals
A. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
6.
a visible
A substantial British contribution to the new Hong Kong
the endowment of a University of Science and Technology such as Research Centre in a high technology field of commercial significance would make a major impact in Hong Kong as and lasting demonstration of Britain's commitment to the expansion of advanced education in the territory and its aspirations to become a centre of technological excellence in the region. A major obstacle to Hong Kong's economic success in the future is the absence of a centre for applied research (the two existing universities are primarily under-graduate teaching institutions) and for technology transfer (most Hong Kong companies are still family owned businesses operating at a very low technological level). The new university (which will be modelled on MIT) should therefore make a vital contribution to Hong Kong's continued prosperity. The endowment of a Research Centre in a high technology field will help to secure British involvement in what is Likely to be one of the leading institutions of its kind in the Asia Pacific Region. Such a relationship would also offer considerable opportunities for collaboratal research with scientific
CONFIDENTIAL