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we first return.
•
The re-organisation and re-equipment of
the University is, therefore, regarded as a measure to be
under taken with urgency. It is clear that there will have
to be something very like a restart, since apart from the
problems arising from the loss of buildings and equipment
and the non-availability of staff, there will have been
complete interruption of matriculation and graduation.
Inevitably, therefore, the policy to be adopted towards the
University assumes from the moment of reoccupation a "long
term" aspect. That the Vice-Chancellor, Mr. Sloss, feels
this very strongly is evidenced by the fact that he has
contrived to send to the Colonial Office from the camp in
Hong Kong where he is interned, a note urging that a
decision should be reached now as to whether the University
is to be regarded as an instrument of British policy in
China or an institution for the fulfilment of local needs
only. If a decision on this important point were not made
before the liberation of Hong Kong, the difficulties of
re-establishing the University in any satisfactory form would
be greatly increased.
In support of the wider aim Sir H2 Prideaux-Brune in
(F.E. (44) 10 of 1to 30th November 1944) a paper which has already been consider by the Far Eastern
Committee has pointed out that the future prosperity and
welfare of the foreign community in China will be largely
affected by the attitude and outlook of the Chinese educated
classes.
has also been pointed out that up till now
it is largely to America that China has turned for help in
the educational field, whilst, unfortunate as it may be,
Britain is associated in the Chinese mind with questions of
commerce rather than culture. It seems, to the Colonial Office,
It
therefore, that from the chaos of war an opportunity has
arisen which can be used to establish the University finally
on the lines intended by its founder and prove it to be an
fant
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