355
Letter from the Dean of the
Faculty of Arts
to the Vice-
Chancellor.
Chinese Classon in the Faculty of Arts.
sity; that when this special committee had formulated its recommendations a committee would be appointed by the Council to advise that body on the adjust- ment of the recommendations of the Special Committee with those submitted by the Boards of the Faculties and the Senate; but that before giving effect to any of the recommendations thus arrived at, the whole scheme for spending the balance would be referred by the Council to the Court. The Court then proceed- ed to appoint the special committee the personnel of which is set out in paragraph above and referred to it the terms of reference quoted in paragraph 2 of this Report.
26. His Excellency has been quoted in paragraph 25 above as having said to the Court that before giving effect to any of the recommendations of the Committee the whole scheme for spending the balance would be referred by the Council to the Court. This same meeting on the 1st June, 1931, was concluded by the agreement of the Court that provision should be made in the Faculty of Medicine for the immediate appointment of certain part-time lecturers at a cost of $3,000 a year.
VI.
The Working of the School of Chinese Studies and the teaching
of Chinese in the Faculty of Arts.
27.
In May 1931 the Dean of the Faculty of Arts reviewed the teaching of Chinese, as it then was, both in the Faculty of Arts and in the School of Chinese Studies. We have seen this review and feel that it is worth reproducing.
28. The Dean starts by pointing out that, though the special object of his report is to give a detailed review of the School of Chinese Studies as it then was, he has added an outline of the Chinese Classes in the Faculty of Arts," since it would appear that this side of the Chinese Department would necessarily have to be considered as a possible means of absorbing the students of the School of Chinese Studies should the School cease to function."
29. The undergraduates attending these classes have all matriculated Their curriculum is one of western studies taught through the medium of English but including some Chinese studies, the medium of instruction in these studies being Cantonese. The Chinese courses which can be taken comprise classics, history, literature and translation. The Groups of Study which allow of Chinese subjects being taken and the possible number of years of study of Chinese in each of these Groups are as stated below:-
Group I (Letters & Philosophy).
Chinese may be taken for four years in this Group and hence may be offered as a subject in Part II of the final examination for the B.A, degree.
Groups III & V (Social Science & Commerce).
Chinese may be taken for two years and offered as a subject in the Inter- mediate Part II Examination.
Group IV-C (Teachers of General Subjects), Chinese may be taken for three years and offered as a subject in Part I of the final examination,
1930
and
1931
and
30. The table of the Degree examination results for of the Midsessional Examination results for 1931 as reproduced on page 7, shows to what extent these Chinese courses are favoured.
31. Only eleven students of the First Year and four of the second year took Chinese in the Intermediate degree examinations, 1931, out of a total of ninety-seven internal students of the Faculty of Arts who appeared at the examina- tions. Of the twenty-eight students who are now starting on their University course in the Faculty of Arts eleven are taking Chinese. The second year of the Faculty as it has just been reconstituted consists of twenty-six students of whom seven are taking Chinese. There is no student in the 3rd or 4th year of the Arts Faculty who is taking Chinese. Therefore out of 101 students now in the Faculty eighteen only are taking Chinese.
DEGREE EXAM.
DEGREE EXAM. Nov. 1930. NUMBER
MIDSESSIONAL EXAM.
MAY 1931. NUMBER
Nov. 1931. NUMBER
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32. The Chinese courses in the Faculty of Arts are controlled by the Board of that Faculty, of which Board the Chinese staff are members. The Chinese staff of the Faculty of Arts is at present Dr. Lai Chi Hsi, Reader in Chinese History, Dr. Au Tai Tin, Reader in Chinese Literature, Mr. Lam Tung, Chinese Translator.
33. The circumstances which led up to the opening of the School of Chinese Studies have been described in paragraphs 18—20 above. The School was actually started in January 1929.
34. The standard of admission to the School of Chinese Studies is the Final Examination of the Government Vernacular Middle School to which exami- nation students who have not been educated at the school are also admitted. This examination demands a higher degree of Chinese knowledge than is demanded by the Matriculation Examination but the scope and standard required in English, Mathematics and any other subjects which may be offered in accordance with the regulations of the examination are those of the Junior Local Examination.
35. The students of the School of Chinese Studies not having matriculated are excluded by the University Ordinance from the category of "undergraduates." They are therefore not members of the University. They cannot claim accom- modation in either the University or attached hostels. They can become " ciate members" of the University Union but not full members, which means that they cannot hold office in the Union. The students of the school are not reading for a University degree, but it is understood that those who complete the four years' course of the school successfully will receive diplomas.
36. The staff of the School consists at the moment of Dr. Lai Chi Hsi, Dr. Au Tai Tin, Mr. Lam Tung, B.A., Dr. Chu Yu Chun, Mrs. G. H. Forster, B.A. and Mr. Lo Hei Tong, a part-time lecturer.
37. The administration of the School is conducted by a committee which was appointed by the Senate and consists of the Vice-Chancellor, Mr. A. E. Wood, the Professor of English, Father D. MacDonald, s.J., the Chinese Staff of the School and the Registrar with the Dean of the Faculty of Arts as Chairman. The Dean emphasized in his previous reports the undesirability of this arrangement, In the report submitted in May 1931 he writes:-
7
Tho School of Chinese Studios.
356