CO129-610-2 Rehabilitation of Hong Kong University 9-1-1948 - 18-1-1949 — Page 158

60.

(Driginal t (9) a 54403/2/48)

43

184

Extract from Minutes of 17th Meeting of Inter-

University Council Executive Committee

on 21st May, 1948.

Malaya: Application for assistance from

the C.D. & W. higher education allocation.

The Committee RECEIVED the note circulated as item 10

of the Agenda (I.U.C./E. 20./48.).

The Committee AGREED to inform the Colonial University Grants Advisory Committee that:

(a) they had considered the applications from Malaya and Hong Kong and advised that first priority should be given to capital expenditure on behalf of the Malayan scheme recommended in the Carr-Saunders Commission report, provided that the site for the University were made available as a free gift;

(b) they suggested that the Colonial University Grants Advisory Committee might reconsider the allocation to Far Eastern projects so as to ensure for Malaya the maximum possible capital grant from the higher education funds, if possible of the order of £1 million;

(0)

they considered that the immediate offer of a substantial contribution from C. D. & W. funds would be a great encouragement to local effort to provide the balance of £2 million capital required to implement the recommendations of the Commission's report.

68.

University of Hong Kong: Application for capital grant from the C.D. & W. higher education allocation.

The Committee RECEIVED the note circulated as item 8 of the agenda (I.U.C./E.19./48.).

The Committee AGRE D to advise the Colonial University Grants Advisory Committee that

(a) they reaffirmed the Council's support of the conclusions of the 1946 Committee in London on the future plans for the University of Hong Kong, namely that either the University should be developed to serve as a worthy representation of British scholarship and an effective centre for Sino-British contact in t sphere of learning (which would require large-scale financial assistance from Imperial, not Colonial funds) or the University should not be revived;

(b) because adequate Imperial funds for the development policy had not been made available and because they considered that the Malayan scheme had priority of claim on the C. D. & W. higher education allocation, they could not support an applicatio for using a substantial sum from the allocation on what were essentially rehabilitation schemes.