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EDUCATION
Tin, which became operational in April 1984. This is supplemented by facilities at the United Christian Hospital and the Lek Yuen Health Centre in Sha Tin. The university will confer its first Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees in 1986.
At the postgraduate level, there are 43 academic and professional programmes leading to the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Philosophy, Master of Business Administration, Master of Social Work, Master of Divinity and Master of Arts as well as Diplomas in Education and Social Work.
The part-time degree programme, established in 1982-3, offers a variety of courses leading to first and higher degrees.
New programmes launched in 1984–5 comprised the Doctor of Philosophy programmes in Economics and Sociology, the Master of Business Administration programme in Marketing and International Business, the Master of Arts programme in Translation and the Diploma in Social Work.
Accelerated expansion in the fields of education, social work, computer science and medicine is expected in the coming years. There are also plans to increase substantially the development of postgraduate studies, especially research work and training of research students, as well as to increase the number of part-time degree programmes in the 1985–8 triennium.
Of the 15 841 candidates who sat for the 1984 Hong Kong Higher Level Examination, some 4 868 fulfilled the entrance requirements. A total of 1 312 were admitted to the university for the 1984–5 academic year. Student enrolment in September totalled 6 605, including 5 011 full-time and 372 part-time undergraduate students, and 447 full-time and 775 part-time postgraduate students. About 45 per cent of full-time students are now housed in campus hostels. The overall growth rate in student enrolment in the coming three years will be 6.1 per cent per annum, and the student population is likely to reach 7 000 by 1988. The majority of the university's 450 teaching staff members have been educated abroad and hold higher degrees.
In 1984-5, the Department of Extramural Studies offered more than 1 000 courses conducted in Cantonese, Putonghua (Mandarin) and English to about 34 000 students. Besides offering general courses and those that award certificates or diplomas, the department also encourages individualised learning through a mixture of correspondence, radio, audio tapes, programmed text, and resource materials.
Construction projects completed during the year included an academic building on the central campus, a transport and security depot, a block of junior staff quarters, and improved facilities for the disabled. Further academic buildings, annexes, student hostels, staff quarters and sports facilities are being constructed, designed or planned to meet the requirements of the next few years.
The library system consists of the University Library, the Medical Library, and three branch libraries in the colleges. The total collection in 1984 was 831 022 volumes.
Research is conducted not only in individual departments, but also in the university's three research institutes: the Institute of Chinese Studies, the Institute of Science and Technology, and the Institute of Social Studies. They promote inter-disciplinary research in their respective faculties, and provide facilities for faculty members to keep abreast of, and contribute to, developments in their own fields.
Hong Kong Polytechnic
The Hong Kong Polytechnic developed from the former Hong Kong Technical College and was formally established in 1972. The bulk of the polytechnic's finances comes from the government through the UPGC.