CO129-567-12 Hong Kong University 24-1-1938 - 24-1-1938 — Page 209

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52. We turn now to the vexed question of consultant practice. Representa- tions have been made to us that the actual practice of the clinical Professors has not always been in accord with Statute No. 3, Section 11, of the University Ordinance. On the evidence before us We

the of the opinion that are continuance of consultant practice by the clinical Professors is in the best interest

But both of the public of the Colony and of the University.

We re-affirm the importance of strict adherence to the spirit as well as the letter of the rule govern- ing consultant practice embodied in the University Ordinance, which reads follows:--

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Professors and lecturers whose services are exclusively at the disposal of the University shall not, during the tenure of their appointments, engage in professional practice except in a consultative capacity and with the approval of the University Council.”

Arts.

53. The Arts Faculty seems to us to have attached itself like some half-un- wanted stepbrother to those two scientific Faculties which, to the founders at least, gave such promise of a sturdy manhood. It was felt no doubt that the materialism of Medicine and Engineering should be offset by a course which should include Ethics and Philosophy and the humanities generally. Later on the Chamber of Commerce was induced to contribute towards the support of a department where Economies and something like Accountancy could be taught (this contribution has ceased, but the department goes on). And finally a Chinese School was founded to carry on the tradition of China's antique culture. Meanwhile the Government Education Department seized the opportunity of the existence of a University and was provided with a course of training for the most promising material from its secondary schools to become teachers in Government and Aided schools,

54. There had probably been a vague idea that some of the Arts graduates would in time emerge as political leaders in China. That dream, we understand, has almost entirely failed to come true up to the present, and we doubt if Nanking's recent decision to admit IIong Kong graduates to her examinations for official posts will materially improve matters; and appears that the Arts degree is now con- sidered to be little more than the crowning of Hong Kong's secondary education for those whose parents can afford it, together with a certain number from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies.

55. So long as this is frankly recognized, we consider that there is much to be said for such an ideal. We would go further and say that an engineer will be a better engineer and a doctor will be a better doctor by social intercourse during his training with students in a non-technical Faculty. A virile School of English and a virile School of Chinese are obvious necessities in a University such as this. And it is worth recording here that the Arts Faculty shares with one or both of the other Faculties the Departments of Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Biology.

56. Bearing in mind this aspect of the Arts Faculty being a continuation of the general education provided in the Colony's secondary schools, we feel strongly that a closer liaison with the Education Department of the Government is desirable.

57. The Director of Education is ex officio a member of the Senate, but, apart from Matricniation standards, it is difficult to see how the Medical and Engineering Faculties can be his concern. On the other hand if there is to be a unified general education in the Colony it would seem desirable that he should have a place in the Arts Faculty. The Government Medical Department has, we under- stand, a representative in the University's Medical Faculty, so that the principle is not a new one; in the Arts Faculty the justification seems to us even stronger.

58. To strengthen that liaison we consider that steps should be taken to implement the University's authority, under section 4 (7) of the Ordinance, to have

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some say in the pre-graduate education of the Colony. If the Arts Faculty of the University is to become less self-contained so also must the Government's Education Department.

59. In particular it seems essential that the Chinese School at the University should become less of a watertight compartment than at present. We contemplate the teaching of Chinese in the Colony, an the relation of that teaching to English studies, as a well thoughtout and unified system reaching from the elementary school to University graduation.

60. On the basis of calculation already employed in the other Faculties the cost of the Arts Faculty for the month of January 19837 was over $14,000 and the total number of students in the Faculty in the same month was 114.

61. It is not easy for us to criticize such a thing as a curriculum but we are satisfied that there is need of rigorous pruning in this Faculty as soon as this can, without injustice to the existing staff, be accomplished. We have been constrained to think that as at present constituted the Faculty is following a curriculum not altogether suited for its "clientele". We feel that it has been modelled too closely on the lines of an English University, and that this induces an atmosphere of un- reality. Many of the courses can have no real interest or final meaning for Chinese, and we are extremely doubtful whether the Department of Commerce can justify its existence. The courses given therein (particularly in the subject of Ac- countancy) bear no real relation to the actual practice of commerce in China, where development of joint-stock companies lags behind and where few busines organiza- tions have been developed beyond the size which can be controlled by members of a single family.

62. We are also conscious of a certain lack of co-ordination in the Arts Faculty. At a later stage of this Report we will criticize the existing practice of annually appointed Deans; and it is in this Faculty that the need both for internal discipline and for a consistent policy seems to us to be chiefly felt.

63. Even more than in the Engineering Faculty, we feel that there are far too many full Professors in this Faculty.

64. The Arts Faculty Department of Education as at present run seems to us to be a very expensive method of turning out a few qualified teachers, and a scrutiny of the time-tables concerned only confirms that view. We refrain from further comment except to say (a) that here even more than with the rest of the Faculty the need of close liaison with the Government Education Department is necessary -if only because the Government provides the cost of the training of many of the students concerned; (b) that this Department seems to us to be much too self- contained and too independent of the rest of the Faculty; and (c) that a Professor of Education is wholly unnecessary once the subject-groups are settled and that an efficient Master of Method available for practical training is all that is required.

65. The Chinese School seems to us to have promise of a vigorous future under its able Professor. Considering its potential utility, its cost is not extravagant. It deserves every support and encouragement, and its expansion would provide a fair ground for endowments from well-wishing Chinese benefactors. The same is true of the Chinese Library which we understand needs considerable enlarge- If the approach were properly made we feel sure that the sympathy of the Chinese, who alone are concerned, could be enlisted for this purpose.

ment.

66. Throughout our inquiry we have kept in mind the primary object of the University to establish contact with China and to provide something of value to China. Most Universities worthy of the name will be found to have established in process of the time some special reputation for a particular course of training or even for a particular habit of mind. And we have been led to consider what particular contribution to knowledge could best be made by a University in such a unique geographical and political situation as Hong Kong.

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