EDUCATION
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The CDC conducts research on curricular issues such as civic and environmental education, the development of school-based curricula and the feasibility of introducing new subjects. During the year, four research projects made good progress, and the possibility of introducing Travel and Tourism and Science for Non-science Students was considered.
In its Report No. 4, the Education Commission recommended setting up a new Curriculum Development Institute, and planning for this proceeded during the year.
The University & Polytechnic Grants Committee
The UPGC is appointed by the Governor to advise on the development and funding of higher education and to administer government grants for the tertiary institutions. Its members, all prominent in their field, comprise 10 academics from overseas, three local academics, and five local professional and business people. No government official sits on the committee, but it is served by a secretariat staffed by civil servants.
Since the UPGC's establishment as the University Grants Committee in 1965, full-time equivalent student numbers have increased tenfold, from 4 100 in two universities to almost 42 000 in seven institutions. These (in order of age as a tertiary institution) are the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic, the Hong Kong Baptist College, the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Lingnan College.
During the year, the UPGC developed firm plans for implementing the government's ambitious tertiary expansion initiative, announced in October 1989, which aims to double first-year first degree places by 1995. The University of Science and Technology admitted its first batch of students. Lingnan College was accredited as a degree-granting institution, and introduced degree programmes. Plans for new degree courses and expansion of existing courses at the other institutions proceeded smoothly. The UPGC continued to monitor progress towards a revised structure of tertiary education, with a normative three-year first degree course following Secondary 7. The new Joint University and Polytechnic Admissions System was implemented for the first time. This made the selection and allocation of places easier for individuals and the institutions.
Achieving the expansion targets will require an annual 10 per cent growth in the tertiary sector. This is high both in absolute terms and by comparison with what has ever been achieved elsewhere. Retaining and recruiting academic staff of the right calibre will be a crucial factor in successfully achieving the expansion. To help train local students for future careers in Hong Kong's tertiary sector, the UPGC's strategy provides for an increase in research places from about 900 in 1990-91 to over 2 000 in 1994–5.
The Research Grants Council
The RGC was established on January 1, 1991, on the recommendation of the UPGC, to take over the UPGC's role of advising the government on research funding in the tertiary institutions. Its members are six locally based academics, four overseas academics, and three local professionals and industrialists. Grant applications are considered by three specialist panels comprising mostly local academics, covering physical sciences and engineering, biology and medicine, and humanities and social sciences. An independent network of academic referees provides impartial advice. In 1991-2 the RGC disbursed $100 million in earmarked grants for academic research projects, and obtained agreement in principle from the government for an increase in research funding over the next few years.