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EDUCATION
also provides a number of intensive courses leading to certificates. The majority of the courses are conducted in Cantonese or Mandarin. Since 1975, the department has collaborated with Commercial Television and Radio Television Hong Kong in the production of instructional television and radio programmes.
The university library system comprises the university library and branch libraries at each of the three constituent colleges. The university library is used primarily for research and advanced studies. Besides general reference books, the branch libraries provide books and periodicals for undergraduate studies and general reading. The four libraries together hold 305,360 volumes in oriental languages and 218,458 in Western languages, and subscribe to 2,459 periodicals.
Research
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Three institutes the Institute of Chinese Studies, the Institute of Science and Tech- nology, and the Institute of Social Studies and the Humanities provide research facilities that allow faculty members to keep up with, and contribute to, developments in their own fields.
The Institute of Chinese Studies is carrying out research in a broad but unified concept of Chinese studies, including what is traditionally known as Sinology. The institute has its own journal, of which eight volumes have been published. As a result of research sponsored by the institute, seven books - five on Chinese linguistics and one each on Chinese intellectual history and Chinese economic history - have been published in the past two years. The Chinese Linguistic Research Centre continues to undertake research in Chinese linguistics. The translation centre is printing a number of translated works and is preparing many others. The centre publishes, semi-annually, an English-language journal, Renditions, which is devoted to transla- tions of classical and contemporary Chinese material.
The Institute of Science and Technology promotes interdisciplinary research in the science faculty, with particular emphasis on projects with long-term regional significance or applied value. Two major research units one investigating Chinese medicinal materials and the other food protein production from wastes - operate within the institute. The Chinese medicinal materials unit is making laboratory investigations into rationally-selected Chinese medical herbs to establish scientifically their true therapeutic value. Future plans include co-operation with the new medical school. The food protein production unit is following two main streams of research. They are, first, intensive aquaculture involving the use of sewage wastes on successive steps in the algae, shrimp and fish food chain, and producing vegetable crops in sewage sludge; and, secondly, growing straw mushrooms in cotton wastes and tea leaves. The mushroon project calls for a series of studies on factors affecting crop yields.
The Institute of Social Studies and the Humanities is undertaking a wide variety of research projects through its various centres. The Economic Research Centre is studying the Hong Kong economy and the economies of countries in the region that have close links with Hong Kong. Major areas of investigation include national income study, econometric forecasting of trade and employment, technological changes in manufacturing industries, labour market, and agricultural and industrial development in China. The Centre for Communication Studies has completed a pilot