81
Confidential.
HONG KONG UNIVERSITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
HKUAC No. 38.
An alternative to Part I of the Report of the Hong Kong University Advisory Committee - "The Major Recommendations of the Committee. "
1. 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 adeguate to make it fully representative of British academic standards and 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
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 therefore recommend that the capital and recurrent expenditure involved, which we tentatively estimate at £12 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.
because
3. We consider that the University should be reconstructed as an autonomous institution and on a permanent basis, so far as buildings, endowment and other arrangements are concerned, its unique functions and its representational character will endure even if there are changes in the political status of Hong Kong.
4.
We cannot emphasize too strongly our conviction that the standards of the University must be such that it can stand comparison with those of other British universities and of its sister Chinese universities on the mainland. In contrast to its position when first founded, as the only university institution on the Chinese continent, its relative position had radically changed in the period before the war with the development of Chinese universities of first-class standard. It is certain that after the war Chinese institutions, partly with generous material and other assistance from American sources, will regain and surpass their former distinction and standards. For the British Commonwealth to be represented by an impoverished institution, with an overworked and undere quipped staff, denied the conditions of making contributions to knowledge by research, and yet presuming to call itself a university, would be discreditable. The continuing damage to our prestige involved would be far greater than that cntailed by a frank confession now that we are not able or willing
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