The new most undesirable,
- 13 -
pretensions and cost should be restricted.
It is clear
that there is still a vast need for engineering knowledge
in China and it is important to retain the pre sent
framework of the Faculty ready for the expansion which
a closer contact with China (and a greater realization
by her of the advantages which Hong Kong University
can offer) may well bring in their train. It is
tempting from the immediate practical point of view to
suggest that the present expenditure on the Faculty
could be better employed in providing students with an
engineering degree in an English provincial University
with all the facilities for practical training on the
spot. But there is the language difficulty; there is
the danger of complete loss of touch with Chinese life
and sentiment; and there is the vital consideration of
prestige.
38.
MEDICAL.
It might seem at a first glance that much
that we have said in relation to the Engineering Faculty
will apply with equal force to the Medical Faculty.
There were the same ideals of the founders to give an
awaking China the benefits of Western science; there
have been the same unforeseen developments of efficiently
conducted rival institutions in China proper; and there
has been, but even more markedly than in the case of
Engineering, that same diffidence on the part of
graduates to take their knowledge into China.
39.
It is therefore clear that, if our
recommendations in the two cases are not only different
but almost antithetical, some justification for such a