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A Brief History of Technical Education in Hong Kong
A Brief History of Technical Education
in Hong Kong 1863 to 1980
A Lecture Delivered by
Dr D D Waters ISO BSc
On the Occasion of the Morrison Hill
Technical Institute's 30th Anniversary
12 October 2000
No person can know a territory
Who only knows what is happening in it today.
Anon.
As someone who in the 1970s was given the sobriquet of 'Mr. Technical Institute', I am proud and deeply honoured to be invited to address you all today. The occasion is Morrison Hill Technical Institute's (MHTI) 30th Anniversary,
which falls in this, so called, Millennium Year.
Yes, with me as founding Principal, it is true a small skeleton staff of us moved into the then not fully completed MHTI building on American Independence Day the 4th July 1970. This was entirely coincidental I can assure you. The Institute had already operated for one year in borrowed premises, in the old Technical College at Hung Hom, which has since moved up in the world to become the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
This paper is largely about the history of craft and technician education in Hong Kong and the conditions that prevailed in the Territory at the time.