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facilities for its faculty members to do research and to give training to postgraduates so as to serve directly the needs of the community and to enable faculty members to keep up with the latest developments in their own field and to contribute to it. Moreover, the University hopes to attract and to keep able scholars by having research facilities. Under the direction of the Vice-Chancellor, the University has established two institutes for advanced studies within the first year. They are the Institute of Science and Technology, and the Institute of Social Studies and the Humanities.
The Institute of Social Studies and the Humanities includes units in each of the areas of business and public administration, economics, geography, mass communication, modern Chinese studies, social survey, sociology, social welfare and world history. The Institute of Science and Technology will engage in both basic and applied research in such areas as biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and statistics. These units will be working closely with industrial, commercial and communal interests of Hong Kong.
A programme of intercollegiate teaching to allow all students of the three Foundation Colleges to take the third and fourth-year courses in Colleges other than their own, is now being carried out. The scheme is expected to be expanded when the new campus is completed. By carrying out such a scheme, the University is hoping to pool the special knowledge of the staff and the facilities for the benefit of all the students of the University, and to reduce the teaching load of some members of the teaching staff so that they may be released for other tasks.
In May, 1965, the University announced the adoption of a new system of teaching methods which was an integration of the best features of systems in all parts of the world, including China. The new system calls for re-examination of all syllabuses, reduction of lecture hours, introduction of small group teaching and de-emphasis of examinations. The new system, no doubt, will affect the development of the University drastically.
The long struggle of the Chinese University of Hong Kong for recognition, support and to meet the need of a fast growing society has completed its first phase. The future is opened to unlimited possibilities and challenges.