- 3 -
Department of History:
In one sense the Department of History will be ancillary to those of English and Chinese Languages and Literatures and of Social Science.
Here again we should In another it will have a special task of its own. like to emphasize the importance of maintaining standards of work and train- ing comparable to those characteristic of Honours Schools in this country. The primary object of undergraduate courses must be to train students in
If this is not successfully the discipline appropriate to historical study.
In the undertaken the further tasks of the Department will be impossible. selection of branches of History to which special attention is paid it would be appropriate, and indeed highly desirable, to have regard to the geograph-
Thus it is suggested that the Professor ical setting of the University.
should be concerned with Far Eastern History. Among the other members of the Department there should be one or more whose special concern is in the History of Britain or the British Commonwealth.
Departments of Philosophy, Geography and Mathematics:
In the Department of Philosophy in addition to the philosophy of Europe, Hindu and Buddhist philosophy would be studied with special reference to their influence on Chinese thought. Geography would obviously be specialised to some extent along similar lines.
It is thought that the well-
known aptitude of many Chinese students in Mathematics might lead to the
In addition this Department early development of an Honours School there. would teach the basic mathematics required for statistical applications. The Department would have an important part in the teaching of students in the Faculty of Science and Engineering.
Post-Graduate Departments:
In recommending the establishment of two specifically post-graduate Departments we are not suggesting that post-graduate Courses should be
We have indeed already indicated some limited to those provided by them.
of the lines upon which we think that post-graduate work would be particularly desirable in the Departments which we have already instanced. The two specifically post-graduate Departments to which we wish to refer are those of Education and Social Studies.
The Department of Education for the time being, can, perhaps, best
Its function would be to train be organised with the Faculty of Arts. graduates of this University for work in Hong Kong schools in the increas- ing numbers for which there is demand, and also graduates of Chinese
It has been brought Universities for work in secondary schools in China,
to our notice that the Chinese Ministry of Education is concerned that
It is a English should be well taught in the schools in its charge. reasonable hope that Chinese graduates would not only be trained in English phonetics and in a modern approach to language teaching, but would gain that appreciation of English ideas and habits of thought that would
It will be for the Senate to consider give vitality to their teaching. whether the normal one year course for a Diploma ought not to be lengthened to two years for graduates from Chinese Universities who desire and can give the time to widen their knowledge of English literature and thought.
The training for other school subjects will of necessity depend for its effectiveness upon the aid and stimulus that will come from such members of the Departments in the Faculties of Arts and Science as have an alert interest in teaching method in their own subjects.
The other post-graduate Department proposed is one in Social Studies. Hong Kong graduates in Social Science would be admirably prepared for this,
The groups of studies proposed but it should not be confined to them.
include