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6
students
to
those appeals, partly aesthetic, partly his- torical, which have drawn Heidelberg, Oxford and Pekin.
6. Nevertheless, marked as failure has been, we yet firmly believe that given an opportunity Hong Kong University is capable of serving China. By its geographical situation, its excellent com- munications and its position as one of the largest and wealthiest cities in South China, Hong Kong appears to be a natural centre for the growth of a University. In addition, it is in a position to offer facilities in some branches of study superior to These ad- those that exist elsewhere in China.
vantages are such that we firmly believe that a Hong Kong University has its place in any sound plan for University education in China generally. That this University should fit into a general scheme of Chinese University development is a consideration that we deem it desirable to emphasize. Our aim has been to suggest means of co-operation, not of competition, between Hong Kong and the Chinese Universities. The means suggested are outlined in Chapter IV of this Report.
7. Our proposals for the development of Uni- versity teaching and University life, if carried out, would involve the University in very con- Our siderable capital and recurring expenditure. terms of reference do not limit us to the recom- mendation of changes immediately possible within the limits of the University's present income. Our recommendations are to be read as contingent on the finding, from one source or another, of large
We sums of money.
are convinced that the initiation of a programme of development is now necessary and should be made possible. Unforeseen changes in circumstances hitherto have prevented the University playing to the full the part its Current circumstances founders projected for it.
offer a second opportunity of that full development. If the University is unable to initite a programme of development the opportunity may be lost for
ever.
8. More even than that is involved. Without development, we believe that the University would gradually lose such attraction and value as it now has for students from China. At the same
time, educational developments in Singapore may well deflect the flow of students from Malaya and another decade might see the reduction of the University to a purely Hong Kong institution. We are satisfied that the higher education of the inhabit- ants of the Colony would not alone have justified the establishment of a University and if the time came when only the utilitarian needs of that popula- tion were to be served, the courses required—a medical course leading to a local qualification only, some higher technical courses and a teachers' training course-would cover so narrow a field that neither the name nor the status of a University would any longer be merited. The University must, in a rapidly growing world, either grow or, through the loss of its relative educational value, decay. The alternative to growth is not perhaps immediate death but it can be no more than a precarious hold on life. On the other hand a recognition of the need of development and a com- mencement with some material part of this pro- gramme would encourage hope for the University's future.
9. We have endeavoured to frame our detailed recommendations on the basis of the above general concepts of the place and future of the University and with a clear realization that the aim should be co-operation, not competition, with the Chinese Universities. Our recommendations fall into three parts:
(i) development of co-operation with Chinese
Universities;
(ii) improvement of the equipment and staffing of the University so as both to remedy its present deficiencies and to develop its re- sources in those branches of study in which Hong Kong can offer exceptional facilities;
and
(iii) removal of financial and other obstacles which impede the coming of students to Hong Kong.
10. Finally as a consequence of the plans for development of studies we have considered the much wider question of the possible transfer of the University to a new site where future develop- ment would not be hampered by physical limita- tions.
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