Resolutions of Council.
229
22.
Report.
Of the remaining 192 only 82 have obtained engineering posts in China proper.
24. The scope of an Engineering Faculty in British and American Universities goes far be- yond anything which, in our opinion, should be attempted in Hong Kong. In these Universities its functions rightly embrace original work, re- search and an advisory capacity to industry as well as sound teaching in the principles of engineering. In Electrical Engineering, for example, we are advised that a Technical College even of a high order would concentrate upon such points as operation and repair; whereas a Univer- sity proper would go in more for research and design. "In our view it is quite out of the question for Hong Kong to compete in the latter sphere with the vast aggregation of electrical knowledge of Europe and America; nor can we see any good reason why this should even be attempted. It follows that in our view Hong Kong University need not follow the organization of Universities situated in Eng- land.'
Resolutions of Senate and Faculties.
The Senate considers it very satisfactory that, in the face of adverse factors, so many of its eligible graduates have found employment in China.
(a) The Senate declares that the department of engineering of this University is, as it ought to be, generally similar in its scheme of instruc- tion to the engineering departments of Univer sities in Great Britain, but provides no facilities for advanced or specialized instruction beyond the basic minimum required for degree courses. therefore does not merit the criticism of being elaborate or pretentious.
It
(b) The Senate considers that the references to Design and Research (Paragraph 24 of the Report) can only be based on an unfortunate misconception of the training in engineering pro- vided in this or any British University.
(c) The Senate desires to point out that Design is the natural bridge between theory and practice in engineering, and forms an essential part of any degree course.
(d) The Senate wishes to emphasize as re- gards Research, that it finds no place in under- graduate courses here or in Great Britain; also that in the Engineering Faculty of this University
not
even post-graduate research has yet been undertaken. No attempt has ever been made. here, and it is inconceivable that any attempt ever could be made here, to compete with the vast aggregation of electrical" (and mechanical) "knowledge of Europe and America ".