EDUCATION
81
In the
year under review, the polytechnic was engaged in the preparation of degree course proposals with a possible view to offering degree courses in a number of academic fields towards the end of the 1981-4 triennium. These proposals are to be assessed by the United Kingdom's Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) through the UPGC to ensure that any degrees awarded by the Hong Kong Polytechnic will receive international recognition. The polytechnic will celebrate its 10th anniversary on August 1, 1982, and an organising committee was set up in January 1981 to propose a programme of suitable functions to mark the occasion.
University of Hong Kong
In the course of the year, the University of Hong Kong celebrated its 70th anniversary, having been founded in 1911 by initially taking over the work of the former College of Medicine which was established in 1887. The university's central estate is on the north- western slopes of Hong Kong Island, but it also occupies a tract of land adjacent to the Queen Mary Hospital.
The structure and governance of the university is similar to that found in most British universities. Most of the undergraduate courses are of three years' duration and lead to honours degrees. All undergraduates are full-time students and are almost entirely from Hong Kong. The medium of instruction is English except in the Department of Chinese. External examiners and eminent academics, generally from universities in the West, visit in each subject area at least every three years and moderate each year's finals papers to ensure that international standards are upheld. Students are admitted mostly on the results of the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination, and competition for places is intense. The academic staff is recruited through international advertisement.
The university is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and during the year was joint host, with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, of the ACU conference of executive heads. Under the auspices of the Committee for International Co-operation in Higher Education, the HKU has the benefit of advice from senior academics from the United Kingdom and various Commonwealth universities who visit from time to time to give advice on specific academic questions.
Recent major developments at the university have included the establishment of a dental school - with the first students being admitted in September 1980 - and the establishment of a Centre of Urban Studies and Urban Planning. As the year ended, the university was in the midst of a substantial development phase with new buildings to accommodate science and student amenities having been opened during the year, and work was underway on other buildings for academic purposes.
The university also provides facilities for extra-mural study, though not to degree standard, through its Department of Extra-mural Studies. In 1981, the Department of Extra-mural Studies provided 790 evening and day courses in a wide variety of vocational and professional fields for more than 23 000 students.
The number of undergraduates registered in the various faculties and schools at the beginning of the 1981-2 academic year were: arts 1 108; science 644; medicine 924 (including 149 for dentistry); engineering 814; social sciences 824; architecture 253; and law 218. There were also 1 590 post-graduate students: 798 reading for higher degrees and 792 for diplomas and certificates.
In addition to courses leading to first degrees, the university offers post-graduate courses leading to the degrees of Master of Arts, Master of Science in Engineering, Master of Social Sciences, Master of Social Work, Master of Business Administration, Master of Medical