necessarily represent the total cost of education, as additional charges are also often made for "extras." One unhappy result of the great demand for education which is evident among all classes of the population is that it has opened a way for the charging of exorbitant fees because the number of applicants exceeds the school accommodation available. This has to some extent been counteracted by the opening of free evening classes and by keeping the fees of Government grant-aided and subsidized schools as near to their pre-war level as is economi- cally possible. A further step towards the prevention of these abuses was the amendment of the Education Ordinance and the framing of new regulations controlling the payment of fees. The effect of the amendment was to provide that tuition fees should be paid monthly and that all fees must be shown in returns to the Director of Education for publication in the Government Gazette. Assistance to pupils to continue their education after leaving school is given by Government in the form of annual scholarships to Hong Kong University. Many holders of these scholarships take up teaching as a career.
The University.
The University of Hong Kong was incorporated in 1911 and formally opened in 1912. It had therefore reached the thirtieth year of its existence when the Japanese war broke out towards the end of 1941. That year had been a year of expansion. Not only was a new science building opened only a few weeks before the outbreak of war but plans had also been approved for a temporary annexe to house a large number of new students many of whom had flocked to Hong Kong from Malaya. In addition to classroom accommodation for about 500 students, there were six hostels, laboratories, staff residences, a Students' Union, a gymnasium, workshops and playing fields.
The
The supreme governing body of the University was the Court, which comprised life members, ex officio members and nominated members, with the Governor as chairman. Council, which was the executive body, was composed of the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor, the Treasurer, certain Govern- ment officials, Chinese members of the Legislative Council, the Deans of the Faculties, two representatives of the commercial community, and two additional members appointed by the Governor. The Senate was composed of the Vice-Chancellor, the Director of Education, and the Professors and Readers. There were in existence four faculties, medical, engineering, arts and science.
The prospects of a very successful session were abruptly dispelled by the invasion of Hong Kong in December, 1941. An immediate effect of the fall of the Colony was the grievous material damage wrought on the University buildings by whole-
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