EDUCATION
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companies. In 1986-7, a special grant of $6.8 million was provided by the government to fund 'strategic' research of particular relevance and value to Hong Kong. Research is considered a vital function of the university, and projects undertaken in cooperation with the commercial and industrial sectors of the community, and collaborative research and exchange at an international level, are encouraged and supported as far as possible. The university has a number of specialist research centres: the Centre of Asian Studies, which serves as a focal point for multi-disciplinary research on China, Hong Kong, East Asia and Southeast Asia; the Centre of Urban Studies and Urban Planning, the Kadoorie Agricul- tural Research Centre, a Social Sciences Research Centre which was established at the beginning of 1987, and a Marine Sciences Research Centre, which is in the development stages at Cape d'Aguilar. Research institutes in other disciplines like molecular biology are also being planned.
Close links are maintained with universities abroad, through individuals and depart- ments, as well as through the Association of Commonwealth Universities and the Association of Southeast Asian Institutes of Higher Learning. Academic staff are recruited by international advertisement.
New academic developments are undertaken in close consultation with the University and Polytechnic Grants Committee, as well as with relevant government departments and other agencies, such as the Education and Manpower Branch of the Government Secretariat, the Environmental Protection Department, the Social Welfare Department, and the Industry Development Board. Close contact enables the university to plan new initiatives in direct response to specific community and manpower needs. A new Depart- ment of Speech Sciences, scheduled to have its first intake in 1988-9, represents one such response, as well as new curricula in Environmental Management, and Environmental Science and Engineering, which will help to provide professional personnel in these fields in Hong Kong.
To keep pace with academic developments and increasing student numbers, the univer- sity is undergoing substantial physical redevelopment. A 20-storey academic building on the main estate will be ready for occupation by 1988, while work to expand the main library is underway, and due for completion by 1990–1.
Accommodation is currently provided by the university for about 25 per cent of its undergraduate students. There are seven residential halls, and two non-residential halls. A further two 300-place halls of residence are planned for medical students, and an ‘on-call' clinical students hall is also to be built. A number of postgraduate students and academic visitors to the university can be accommodated at the Robert Black College on the main estate. Three student amenities centres provide study, recreational and restaurant facilities for those students who are unable to obtain a place in a hall of residence.
The University Main Library, with its collection of over 840 000 printed volumes, is one of the best equipped in Southeast Asia, and includes a unique and invaluable collection of Chinese works. There are other specialist libraries located in the Faculties of Dentistry, Education, Law, Medicine and Music. The university also has its own publisher and bindery.
Apart from the regular student enrolment, the university offers about 1 000 courses to some further 30 000 students each year, through its Department of Extra-Mural Studies. While the department teaches a considerable number of courses in the liberal arts, the main thrust of its programmes is in the direction of education at a high level. Most of the students attend courses at the end of the working day, mainly at the Extra-Mural Studies Town Centre, in the Shun Tak Centre, Connaught Road, Central.