The difficul. ties in the
way of post- graduate
ship.
210
that the Faculty should encourage its students to take advantage of the facili- ties which the Taikoo works are offering to engineering students of the Univer- sity, to put in a certain amount of time during the summer vacations, as learners therein
The point which I wish to make is that, if qualified practical engineers of the highest grade are to be produced in Hong Kong, this can only be done by the engineering firms of the Colony co-operating with the University and agree- ing to admit such engineering graduates as may have elected to become mechanical engineers, as apprentices to their workshops for, say, two years and to pay them during that period a living wage of say $150 a month."
40. In criticism of the above observations, Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, Hong Kong, submitted that the practical training required might be concurrent with the University training instead of post-graduate and that in any case the vacations should be availed of for this training. The Vice Chancellor was also reminded that it must not be forgotten that the average Chinese student is anxious to get on an earning basis as soon as he can.
41. We regard this last criticism as important but it has occurred to us that it would apply equally to the case of an apprentice who as a result of what he had learnt practically in the shops supplemented by the theoretical knowledge he had apprentice acquired in evening classes was qualified by his general educational status to enter the Engineering Faculty of the University with a view to taking a degree-an object which could not be attained in less than 4 years. We regard this point as important because a youth who has been through the apprentice system is not likely to be able to afford to go to the University, unless he be provided with a scholarship sufficiently generous to cover the whole cost involved in being a student in a residential university, such as the Hong Kong University is. An allowance of $150 a month may be regarded as a living wage for a University graduate while he is going through a post-graduate apprenticeship. But such an allowance would not do much more than cover the ex-apprentice's expenses as a student in the Engineering Faculty. Reverting, however, to the criticism of Messrs. Butterfield & Swire we are con- strained to admit that reflection certainly casts doubts on the appositeness of the English parallel which has been cited. A young Englishman who after taking the mechanical sciences Tripos at Cambridge goes as an apprentice into works for 2 or 3 years certainly has prospects beyond the dreams of the most ambitious Hong Kong University graduate.
The essence
sity course.
42. At this point we feel it necessary to insist that a University course, of a Univer- whether it be a course in mechanical engineering or a course in philosophy, must connote not only a certain standard of attainment but also a certain view-point and range of vision. Whether there is any real demand in Hong Kong for special University courses in mechanical and electrical engineering is a question which may even now be legitimately and reasonably asked. But nothing but harm and pre- judice to the University's status on the one hand and confusion of functions and standards in the Colony's educational system on the other can, in our opinion, result from any attempt to reduce the University's teaching of engineering to the level of such a course of training as could properly be handled in a technical school. We would however venture to emphasise the importance on the part of the Board of the University's Faculty of Engineering of keeping in constant and vital touch with the engineering industry and especially with those engineering firms which operate in Hong Kong and China. Mutual understanding and co-operation between the Faculty of Engineering and the engineering firms of the Colony is an essential condition of higher technical education in Hong Kong. While the University Engineering Staff would we hold, be justified in refusing, even in the face of alleged local needs, to lower their standards and to circumscribe unduly their curriculum, they must realise that the Engineering Faculty cannot thrive suspended in mid air without a solid basis of technical training out of which the higher standards of University education can evolve. No University Engineering Faculty can flourish anywhere, and certainly not in a Colony like Hong Kong, unless the sympathetic interest of the Faculty's teachers and the guidance of their knowledge and experience are felt at every point in the local technical education scheme. On one side the Directors of the local engineering firms should be looking to the University's