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courses will be of importance. It is at the post-graduate stage, when students have already received their basic training in the disciplines and methods of their chosen subjects, that work can
properly be done of a kind particularly suited to the special pul poses of the University. The training of students to understand and interpret western civilization and culture, particularly its British variant, to the peoples of the Far East is in our view a function of first importance which the University should fulfil. This purpose can be realised only if there are active postgraduate courses where students can be encouraged to discuss and study problems which require for their elucidation a considerable background of knowledge.
Department of English (Language and Literature):
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The task of the Department of English must necessarily be twofold. Special emphasis will obviously be needed on the training of students in a knowledge of the language, by methods developed in Modern Language Departments in Universities in this country. An effective mastery of spoken and written English should clearly be one of the characteristics of students who have taken a University course at Hong Kong. The use of the latest techniques will be needed for this purpose, and special attention will be necessary to phonetics. Close co-operation with the post-graduate Department of Education would be a natural development in this connection. The second fundamental object is the introduction of students to a critical appreciation of western civilization and its variants, especially the British, through the study of English Literature. It is only upon the basis of a thorough training in both language and literature that students
One of the main lines of could be prepared in advanced work. post-graduate work might appropriately be the comparative study of English and Chinese literary forms. We suggest that one at least of the lecturers in the Department should be a Chinese well-grounded in his own and in English literature.
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Department of Chinese (Language and Literature):
This Department would give Chinese from overseas and some non-Chinese students, an elementary training in the Chinese language, and an introduction to its literature, but its main work would be
It among Chinese students already well-grounded in this subject. might also become a research centre for British sinologues, like the Ecole Francaise de l'Extreme Orient, at Hanoi. Useful work might be done on the Chinese dialects and in literary and historical research. It would certainly be surprising if this Department became a greater centre of Chinese studies than those in China itself, but in any case its staff would be essential for the purpose of comparative studies undertaken in conjunction with the Departments of English Language and Literature, of Social Sciences and of Thilosophy.
Department of Social Sciences:
In this Department, as in the Department of English, we would emphasize that a thorough grounding of students at the undergraduate empha stage is essential before the special work which we hope for can be fully developed. We conceive of this special work as the comparative study of the social philosophies and the social institutions of the Far East and the Atlantic areas, especially in their economic and political aspects. For this work studies in Mathematics, Languages,
Economics History, Thilosophy and Geography are of great importance. in all its aspects is fundamental. Particular attention could appropriately be given to the philosophies and institutions of China, Britain and the British Commonwealth. China has a long history in which such matters are very adequately recorded, and has made her own contribution, especially in social ethics. It is reasonable
to assume that comparative studies could very fruitfully be pursued. Very close contact would be necessary with the Departments of English, History and Philosophy wherein the staff at the beginning will have a majority of British members, and with the Department of Chinese which will be staffed by
by Chinese. The Department of Social Sciences might
/aim
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