EDUCATION AT THE CROSSROADS
A Third University
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Despite all these ambitious plans to expand Hong Kong's tertiary education, the UPGC has advised the government that another university will be needed in the 1990s if Hong Kong is to continue to provide degree education to a reasonable proportion of its young people. In the opinion of the UPGC, this proposed university should have a grouping of professional schools with a strong research and postgraduate dimension. This advice is receiving the government's careful consideration, and already an area at Bowring Camp, north of Tuen Mun New Town, has been tentatively short-listed as a campus site.
Part-time Degree Education
Turning from full-time education, some progress has also been made in the provision of part-time degree education. In accordance with the 1978 White Paper on the Development of Senior Secondary and Tertiary Education, the Chinese University of Hong Kong has been offering a part-time undergraduate degree programme since 1981 which started off with a modest enrolment of 24 students. To date, nearly 200 students have enrolled and there are plans to increase this to between 500 and 600 by 1986-7. The University of Hong Kong has also proposed an external degree programme for a much larger student population, and this is being considered by the government with a decision expected before long. Conscious of the importance of, and the public's growing demand for continuing education in Hong Kong, the government is seeking the advice of the UPGC on the feasibility of introducing more distance learning schemes in Hong Kong such as an open university type of institution providing both degree and non-degree programmes, and extending Educational Television.
The expansion programme outlined above has resulted in very heavy expenditure. In 1978-9 the total recurrent and capital expenditure on the two universities and the Hong Kong Polytechnic amounted to $340 million and $65 million respectively. In 1983-4, the corresponding figures were $987 million and $210 million, representing increases of 190 per cent and 223 per cent respectively in money terms and 48 per cent and 149 per cent in real terms.
Technical Education and Industrial Training
Significant strides have been made in recent years in the field of technical education and industrial training, and the contribution of the Hong Kong Polytechnic will be comple- mented in future with the output of the City Polytechnic.
Technical education was formerly the responsibility of the Education Department and industrial training that of the Labour Department, but in 1982 a new government department, the Technical Education and Industrial Training Department, was formed. This came about through the merger of the Technical Education Division of the Education Department and the Industrial Training Branch of the Labour Department, in recognition of the relationship between these two areas and the importance of co-ordinated planning and development. Most of the staff of the department have been seconded to the Vocational Training Council (VTC), which was established in 1982 with the object of advising the Governor on the measures required to ensure a comprehensive system of technical education and industrial training suited to the developing needs of Hong Kong; instituting, developing and operating schemes for training operatives, craftsmen, technicians and technologists needed to sustain and improve industry; and establishing, operating and maintaining technical institutes and training centres.
HONG KONG PUBLIC LIBRARIES