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EDUCATION
The Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong was inaugurated in 1963 as a federal university and a self-governing corporation which draws its income mainly from government grants. The campus occupies more than 110 hectares of land near Sha Tin.
The university comprises three original colleges - New Asia College (founded in 1949), Chung Chi College (founded in 1951) and United College (founded in 1956). A fourth college, the Shaw College, named after its donor Sir Run Run Shaw, will become operational in 1988 at the northwest part of the campus.
Since its inception, the university has adopted a curriculum structure based on a combination of the credit unit system and degree examination system. Students admitted to the undergraduate programme after six years of secondary education are granted a Bachelor's degree upon completion of a number of course credits and the passing of a degree examination assessed by external examiners from home and abroad.
The university started a comprehensive curriculum review in 1983 which resulted in the adoption of a new curriculum structure for its undergraduate studies, based solely on the credit unit system. The new curriculum is applicable to students admitted in 1986–7 and thereafter. Under this new structure, general education is strengthened, language standards are emphasised, minor programmes become optional and degree examinations are replaced by course examinations with the external examiner system retained.
In 1987-8, the university offered full-time undergraduate students 32 major subjects and 35 minor subjects through its 47 departments grouped under five faculties, namely, Arts, Busi- ness Administration, Science, Social Science and Medicine. The first four faculties offer four- year programmes, leading to Bachelor's degrees. The Faculty of Medicine runs a five-year programme with two years of pre-clinical studies followed by three years of clinical work. Clinical teaching is conducted mainly in the university's teaching hospital – the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin. The university emphasises bilingualism. Students have to be pro- ficient in both Chinese and English on admission, and both languages are used in teaching. At the postgraduate level, there are 55 academic and professional programmes leading to the degrees of Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Philosophy, Master of Business Administration, Master of Social Work, Master of Divinity, Master of Science, Master of Arts, and Master of Arts in Education as well as diplomas in Education and Social Work.
Part-time degree programmes leading to Bachelor's degrees (Bachelor of Business Administration; Bachelor of Arts in Chinese and English, Music; and Bachelor of Social Science in Social Work) and Master's degrees in Translation, Business Administration and Social Work as well as professional diplomas in both Education and Social Work are offered to working adults.
New postgraduate programmes launched in 1987-8 comprised a Specialisation MBA Programme in Finance and Accounting, and a Master of Philosophy programme in Anthropology. Expansion in the fields of education, medicine, electronics and computer science is expected in the coming years. Plans are also in hand to establish engineering studies in the near future.
The university is strongly committed to research and other academic activities. In addition to research work conducted in the teaching departments, six research centres are operating under the Research Institutes of Chinese Studies, Science and Technology, and Social Studies.
Competition for university places is intense. Over 30 000 candidates sat the various public examinations held in 1987, and around 1 430 were admitted to first year studies. Enrolment as of September 1987 totalled 7 629, comprising 5 625 full-time and 602