fully representative of British academic standards and to make it
Draft Refat lady
MAIN RECOMMENDATION.
1.
Part I
We are unanimous in recommending that the University of Hong Kong should be reestablished as soon as possible on a firm financial basis, with staff and facilities adequate to make it an effective centre for Sino-British contact in the sphere of learning.
We are of opinion that the restoration of the University on its inadequate pre-war basis would be disastrous to British prestige in the Far East and that if it is not to be restored on a worthy standard, it should not be revived at all in spite of the immediate loss of prestige and the political repercussions that would follow.
2.
We do not regard the higher education needs of the Colony itself as justifying the creation of a University. The University is needed as a representation in the Far East of British scholarship and as a centre capable of taking advantage of the unique opportunities presented for cooperation between British and Chinese learning at the point of junction between the two civilizations. We the refore recommend that the capital and recurrent expenditure involved, which we tentatively estimate at £11⁄2 million and £100,000 per annum, should be met from Imperial sources, except for a contribution from the Colony on the scale of its pre-war support. We express the hope that His Majesty's Government may consider inviting some of the Dominion Governments to participate in providing the necessary funds for this British centre of
learning in the Far East.
3.
We consider that the University should be reconstruct- ed as an autonomous institution and on a permanent basis, so far as buildings, endowment and other arrangements are concerned, because its unique functions and its representational character will endure even if there are changes in the
political status of Hong Kong.
4.
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