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24. The scope of an Engineering Faculty in British and American Universities goes far beyond anything which, in our opinion, should he attempted in Hong Kong. In these Universities its functions rightly embrace original work, research and an advisory capacity to industry as well as sound teaching in the principles of engineering. In Electrical Engineering, for example, we are advised that a Technical College even of a high order would concentrate upon such points as operation and repair; whereas a University proper would go in more for research and design. In our view it is quite out of the question for, Hong Kong to compete in the latter sphere with the vast aggregation of electrical knowledge of Europe and America; nor can we see any good reason why this should even be attempted. The same is equally true of Mechanical Engineering. It follows that in our view Hong Kong University need not follow the organization of Universities situated in England.
25. The Faculty is at present organized with the three Departments of Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering each under its own Professor with his assistant staff. We are left with the clear impression that these Departments work disjointedly and we are satisfied that a less elaborate and a less pretentious organization will amply meet the present day requirements of the University. Our main conclusions in regard to staffing this Faculty are that a single Professor will suffice instead of the present three; that he will naturally be the Tai- koo Professor of Engineering (who need not by Statute necessarily be a Professor of Mechanical Engineering), that he should be er officio Dean of the Faculty; and that he will be assisted by a staff of Lecturers (partly we would hope recruited from the ablest products of the University itself) who in the various departments would be adequate to give instructions on the lines required. These changes when they can be carried out without injustice to the present staff would we are con- vinced result in a better organization and a better discipline throughout the Faculty as well as securing an appreciable economy.
26. From the Departments of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering may in time be derived in fuller measure than at present those advantages for British export trade to which we have already alluded. And we shall later on stress the desirability from this point of view of reinforcing the work of these departments.
27. The Department of Civil Engineering must be evalued somewhat different- ly. Unlike the other two departments there is not much hope, except very in- directly, of obtaining from it those material benefits which will assist Imperial trade. For this reason it is hardly to be expected that firms in the United Kingdom will be anxious to provide gratuitously practical post-graduate apprenticeships for the students concerned. And yet it is just in this field, taking an altruistic view, that the Hong Kong University can at present and for the next few years perhaps be of the greatest benefit to China. Nor is it surprising that this is the department which from the first attracted and still noticeably attracts the greatest number of
students.
28. A few Civil Engineers produced by the University will continue, as now, to find employment in various capacities in the Colony and also in Malaya. But as regards China proper we consider that the University should frankly face the fact that it is acting with no ulterior motives in its attempt to supply the engineers that are so urgently needed for developments of all kinds.
29. We would go a stage further and suggest that the post-graduate training required should be deliberately provided in the Colony to such students from China in the road making, waterworks and building offices of the Public Works Depart- ment without any thought of their subsequent employment in the Colony.
30. We are fully aware of the tendency to-day in Europe to recruit University graduates for such openings as may lead to the higher posts in commercial engineer- ing, on the principle that such recruits will probably have a better knowledge of the underlying principles of their profession than the mere technician.
31. But such graduation in Europe is, if not preceded, invariably followed (as well as accompanied during University vacations) by a rigorous practical training in commercial workshops. The best of laboratories, we are satisfied, is for this pur- pose of little value compared with the discipline of real workshops. Skill of a high order may be attained in the former, but there cannot be the discipline and the constant economic precautions against wastage that the workshop provides.
32. And it is just here that, in our view, the University fails. The graduates who have profited by local practical training are found to be almost entirely non- Chinese; and even the Chinese graduates if they go to Europe readily accommodate themselves to the environment of dock or factory. What the University's founders could not be expected to foresee was that the Chinese undergraduate during vaça- tion or the Chinese graduate after finishing his course will not take orders in Hong Kong from an uneducated foreman; and that that foreman will not give orders to that student, whether in the two large Docks or in the Railway shops or any- where else. It is seldom safe to generalise in this way, but this conclusion is forced upon us from the unanimous evidence of those who know.
33. The other factor which the founders of the University could not foretell was the growth in recent years of capable rival institutions in China proper which not only provide an adequate, if not perhaps an equivalent, training at about one- fifth of the cost, but moreover have in many cases the advantage of benevolent support from elsewhere, particularly from the United States.
But
34. As has already been indicated, those engineering students who after graduation have profited by the generosity and far-sighted policy of certain firms and institutions, and have undergone an apprenticeship in the United Kingdom have, according to our information, fully justified the experiment. their total number has only been fourteen, and two of these are not of Chinese race. Incidentally we observe that out of this total nine have taken electrical training, four mechanical, and one civil.
35. We advise that this system should be greatly expanded if this is possible, but this means that there must be constant personal contact with the English engineer- ing firms and their representatives in Hong Kong and China. We consider that Hong Kong will have done its proper share in the process by bringing the students as far as graduation, and that it is for the Imperial interests concerned to be persuaded to provide, as at present but to a greater degree, the practical workshop training whereby the objects in view can be attained. But Hong Kong University should endeavour to set aside funds for at least one two-years' scholarship to England in order to point the way to others, and to have means for bringing on some of its more brilliant men for eventual use on its own teaching staff.
36. From what has been said it will be clear that we consider that the students selected for such a training should, apart from those required by the University itself, be such as will probably carry the little leaven" of British engineering back into China proper rather than those who propose to earn their living in Hong Kong.
37. We do not consider that this in any way invalidates our previous conclu- sions (a) that the Engineering Faculty should continue and (b) that its pretensions and cost should be restricted. It is clear that there is still a vast need for engineer- ing knowledge in China and it is important to retain the present framework of the Faculty ready for the expansion which a closer contact with China (and a greater realization by her of the advantages which Hong Kong University can offer) may well bring in their train. It is tempting from the immediate practical point of view to suggest that the present expenditure on the Faculty could be better employed in providing students with an engineering degree in an English provincial University with all the facilities for practical training on the spot. But there is the language difficulty; there is the danger of complete loss of touch with Chinese life and senti- ment; and there is the vital consideration of prestige.
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