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that the stage is set fair for collaboration on terms of equality and reciprocity, and it follows that an opportunity now exists which never existed in anything like the same measure in the past, of which it behovus the Chinese and ourselves to take full advantage, as equal and essentially like-minded members of the family of nations.
No one could guarantee that the Chinese sentiment towards a revived University in Hong Kong would remain uniformly friendly and cooperative and undisturbed by any fitful feeling of jealousy or the influence of extraneous events. But there is, so far as we can discern, no special reason for pessimism on this score. It would, naturally, depend largely on the broad conception of the project, the manner in which it was launched, and the way in which it fitted into the general pattern of our relations with China. (b) Situated in a Cantonese speaking area, it was at a disadvantage in attracting Mandarin speaking students from other parts of China and its graduates were at a disadvantage on language grounds in seeking employment in China. This disability will be greatly reduced by the recent decision of the Hong Kong Government to encourage in its schools the study of that national language that the Government of China is successfully dissemin- ating,
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(c) Moreover, like other institutions of higher education in the Colonies, the University suffered from intellectual isolation. Its poverty prevented it from adopting an adequate system of home leave or sabbatical leave for its staff; it could not afford, financially or in terms of staff, to facilitate frequent study leave in China, visiting lectureships, schools, and those other forms of intellectual intercourse which would have kept it continuously refreshed by vigorous contact with both British and Chinese academic developments. The proper financing of the University would remove many of these difficulties. Other developments also will con- tribute to their removal, such as the recommendations of the Asquith Com- mission for staff secondment, annual visits, improved conditions of service for staff, etc. which the Inter-University Council for Higher Education in the Colonies has been established to carry out. The impending reorganiza- tion of the Universities Bureau of the British Empire will also assist in reducing this isolation and in facilitating inter-change of staff and ideas with the Empire universities.
16.
When the University was founded in 1911, there were few universities in China. The past thirty years have seen the growth, some with American assistance, of numerous Chinese universities, a few of which have achieved standards which make them rank as equals with the British. This development meant not only the diversion of many students who might otherwise have proceeded to Hong Kong, but also that Hong Kong University was rapidly outdistanced in equipment and resources. The Committee con- sidered that far from preventing a reconstituted University from achieving its aim, this factor could in the future greatly assist it ir doing so. There is now a manifold and energetic academic life in China with which a British university can make contact. The opportunities for exchange, for mutual study, for cooperation in research, create now the conditions in which "the maintenance of good understanding" on a university level is fruitfully possible. It is, however, an absolute requirement that the University of Hong Kong should in quality and standards in its own specialized sphere as a representative of British scholarship, be able i meet its sister universities in China at least as an equal.
17. The Committee decided therefore to recommend that a University should continue to exist in Hong Kong primarily as a centre for Sino- British contact in the sphere of learning, and for the maintenance of good understanding with the neighbouring country of China. The Committee, according to its terms of reference proceeded to consider "the policy
> which should govern its ropuscitation and makes the following six comments
Mouser recommendations on general aspects of that policy.
these
itation of th and technical points ar
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dealt with in Section III.
Further detailed
In the first place, the plans for the University's revival must envisage it as a permanent institution. Even if in the immediate emergency of shortages, makeshift arrangements have to be adopted for buildings, for equipment, even for staffing, these must be regarded merely
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