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Faculty of Science.
Any university worthy of the name must undertake to teach Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology. All of these subjects must be pursued at a level at which original contributions to learning can be made. Staff, therefore, must be adequate not only to carry out routine teaching but to do research and must be of quality good enough to undertake the
The Committee ther fore supervision of the work of research students. proposes the continuance of separate Departments for Physics and Chemistry, with a staff that it considers to be the minimum with which work of the right quality can be done. For Botany and Zoology the Committee proposes
This is a combined Department with Botany subordinate to Zoology. necessary if the Department is to cooperate satisfactorily with the Fisheries Research Institute in developing such a programme of research in Marine Biology as is suggested in the later paragraphs,
In Arts subjects the Committee has advocated a greater establishment in certain subjects in which the University of Hong Kong can make special contributions which may help in time towards a closer integration
It is difficult of Chinese civilization with that of the Western World. to find subjects in Science that can be developed at moderate cost. The single exception, it appears to the Committee, is Marine Biology for which Hong Kong is specially well suited by its geographical position and environment. This has already been recognised through a Colonial Office grant for the building of a Fisheries Research Institute on the South side of the Island, to be controlled jointly by the Government and the Univer- sity. But for the war, the Institute's laboratories and museums would by now be in use. A research staff in 1940 and 1941 had already done good work and had established friendly relations with similar institutions which will shortly be revived at Amoy and somewhere on the China coast. Though the possibilities of original work in Botany and other branches of Zoology are limited, there is hope in the work of this Institute for real contributions to knowledge as well as for practical assistance for the very important but undeveloped fishing industry. It is likely to play no small part in replacing the Japanese, by a Chinese, deep-sea travl- ing industry in these waters.
The scheme of the Research Institute makes provision for fellowships, which it is hoped hereafter to increase in numbers, and for vacation courses for Chinese scientific workers.
Hitherto Biochemistry has been a minor subject in the Department of Physiology and has been no more than an ancillary subject in medical stulies. Modern developments in the science demand that a separate Department for this subject should be provided in any university that possesses a Faculty of Medicine.
The staff of the Faculty should include:
Professors. Lecturers. Part-time Lecturers. Demonstrators.
2
1
Physics..
2
1
Chemistry.
1
Zoology & Botany..
1
1
1
Biochemistry.
4.
6.
2
2.
3 or 4..
3 or 4
3
9 or 1
The part-time lecturers in the Zoology and Botany Department are member: of the staff of the Fisheries Research Institute.