EDUCATION
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practice, scholarship, creative work and research into curriculum and pedagogy in higher education. Much effort has also been made to strengthen the research base not only in support of first degree programmes, but also in preparation for the mounting of higher degrees by research in the near future.
In 1985, the polytechnic continued to establish new contacts and maintain close liaison with academic, research and professional institutions in China and overseas. The polytech- nic also gave high priority to staff development programmes for the improvement of staff members' level of academic attainments and administrative skills. These included sponsor- ship for courses, attachments, conference attendance and visits, both locally and overseas. In the years ahead, the polytechnic will be constantly upgrading and maintaining the standards of its study programmes, and will plan and implement new courses to meet the changing demands of the community. High priority is also accorded to the continuous development of part-time programmes and improvement in their quality, with a view to achieving parity of educational provision for full-time and part-time students.
City Polytechnic of Hong Kong
The second year of the City Polytechnic's existence witnessed the intake of approxi- mately 1 700 new full-time and part-time students, bringing the total student number to about 2 600.
In addition to the nine courses started in 1984–5 by the Departments of Accountancy, Business and Management, Computer Studies, Social Administration and Languages, three other departments (Building and Construction, Electronic Engineering and Mathe- matics and Science) started to offer courses in 1985-6, and the total number of full-time and part-time courses was 18. These represent different levels of study leading to academic awards ranging from Higher Certificate through Diploma, Higher Diploma and Profes- sional Diploma to Postgraduate Diploma. The plan for the introduction of degree courses is also in progress.
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The City Polytechnic offers courses which have a strong vocational emphasis, many with periods of practical training. Course design is based on the concept of a modular system. Shared instruction is emphasised where it is appropriate for the same module to be taken by students in different courses. This system provides opportunities for the exchange of ideas and views between students with different academic backgrounds, and leads to more cost-effective use of both human and physical resources. Through this system in part, it was possible to translate into practice the principle of equality of award between full-time and part-time courses, another distinguishing feature of the City Polytechnic's courses. In the areas of administration and academic support service, a strongly centralised system has also been developed and has substantially reduced duplication of manpower and equipment. The polytechnic library has 33 000 volumes of books, 1 550 periodical titles and 1 600 non-print items. Access to library materials is provided by an on-line catalogue system. A computer-based Chinese card catalogue is also being built up. The non-print section is equipped with audio-visual facilities, on-line computer terminals and a network of microcomputers to facilitate students' self-studies.
The Computer Centre provides all the computing facilities for the polytechnic. It has six main computer systems providing 130 on-line terminals for student use and an additional 29 in academic departments. Besides the main-frame computers, the centre also supports a total of approximately 50 microcomputers.
The Educational Technology Centre gives general support to all departments in the areas of educational technology, production, engineering and audio-visual services. It operates