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EDUCATION
relevance to Hong Kong. Most research projects receive grants from the Polytechnic Research Committee, which is responsible for overall research policies and utilisation of research funds, while other research projects receive funding and assistance from commerce and industry, and from the government.
City Polytechnic of Hong Kong
Progress was made in preparation for the opening of Hong Kong's second polytechnic in 1984. The director was appointed in April and took up the post in October. Recruitment of senior staff was also taking place during the year.
The first students at the second polytechnic will begin courses in October 1984. The student population should grow to 8 000 full-time equivalent students by the early 1990s with various modes of attendance comprising full-time, part-time day release and part- time evening students. In addition to undergraduate degrees for a maximum of 30 per cent of the student population, professional diploma, higher diploma and higher certificate awards will be offered.
The decision to adopt a modular course structure will provide significant flexibility in course design and should be more cost effective than a traditional course structure. It will also help students on part-time programmes to study for the same awards as their full-time counterparts. The initial plan is for the academic departments to be grouped into six schools of study covering accountancy, architecture and building, business studies, com- puting studies, engineering, and social work.
The government has allocated a site of approximately 12 hectares in West Kowloon, well served by public transport, for the permanent campus. A local architectural firm, in association with a firm from the United Kingdom, provided the winning submission in a competition held during the year to select the architects for the development. The first phase should be ready for occupation in October 1988. Until that time, the polytechnic will operate from temporary premises in the urban area.
The need for the second polytechnic, as a means to increase the availability of places in tertiary education in Hong Kong, was one of the recommendations of a committee appointed in 1980 to review post-secondary and technical education in Hong Kong. Following the review committee's recommendation, which was endorsed by the UPGC and accepted by the government, a Planning Committee was appointed in June 1982 for the development of a second polytechnic. The appropriate legislation for setting up the new institution was enacted in November 1983 and a Council for the City Polytechnic was subsequently appointed to take over the task of the Planning Committee. The City Polytechnic will operate in a similar manner to the Hong Kong Polytechnic and will receive its funding from the UPGC.
Hong Kong Baptist College
The Hong Kong Baptist College was established in 1956 by the Baptist Convention of Hong Kong (known then as the United Hong Kong Christian Baptist Churches Associa- tion), and has been on its present campus since 1966. It was registered in 1970 as an approved post-secondary college and since 1979 has received government financial assist- ance following a revision of its course structure in line with proposals set out in the 1978 White Paper on Senior Secondary and Tertiary Education.
During 1983, the most important development was the enactment of the Hong Kong Baptist College Ordinance, with the college becoming a self-governing tertiary institution with a form of governance similar to the universities and the polytechnics and with