Extract from Minutes of Dia meeting of
28.
on 27/5/48
University of Hong Kong: Provisional Application for Capital Grant from the C. D. & W. Higher Education Allocation
C.U.GAC.
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The Committee RECEIVED the document circulated as
item 10 of the agenda (C.U.G.C./16/48).
Mr. W.I.J. Wallace (Colonial Office) was present for
the discussion of this item.
Mr. Wallace explained to the Committee that the application from Mr. Sloss was submitted only informally for the information of the Committee and that further discussions were necessary concerning the relationship of the two £250,000 grants, from the Hong Kong Government and from the Imperial Government, before applications from the University for assistance from the C. D. & W. higher education allocation could be officially brought before the Committee.
The Secretary reported that the Executive Committee of the Inter-University Council had considered the statement from Mr. Sloss and agreed to inform 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 the 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 application for using a substantial sum from the allocation on what were essentially rehabilitation schemes."
The Committee NOTED that applications on the lines of Mr. Sloss's statement might be brought to the Committee officially for advice at a later stage.
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1.
COLONIAL UNIVERSITY GRANTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
C.U.G.C./16./48.
UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: PROVISIONAL APPLICATION FOR CAPITAL GRANT FROM THE
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D. & W. HIGHER EDUCATION ALLOCATION.
No grant from the C. D. & W. higher education allocation has yet been made to the University of Hong Kong. As part of a general settlement with Hong Kong of financial liabilities arising out of the war, it has been announced (Colonial Office statement of 26th April 1948) that "as a further expression of their willingness to assist Hong Kong, His Majesty's Government are prepared .
to make a free grant of £250,000 for the Hong Kong University". This will not be a charge on C. D. & W. funds.
2. It is understood that the local government is prepared (a) to increase its recurrent grant to the University from £28,450 p.a. to 293,750 p.a., and (b) to make a capital grant of £250,000.
3. The Vice-Chancellor, Mr. Sloss, has submitted in a letter dated 29th April 1948 (copy attached) a provisional application for grants from the C. D. & W. higher education
allocation totalling £255,000. This application is submitted to the Colonial University Grants Advisory Committee informally at this stage, because (a) the Colonial Office has not yet completed its consultation with the Treasury and the local authorities on questions such as the use to be made of His Majesty's Government's grant of £250,000 and the relationship between the capital assistance from Imperial sources and that from the local Government, and the detailed proposals in this application have not yet been discussed with the local authorities; (b) the Vice-Chancellor is not yet able to give firm estimates for the costs of the various schemes submitted.
The Colonial Office would welcome any general com- ments which the Committee felt able to make at this stage, which would guide the University and Colonial Office when the later stage of formal submission of the applications arrives.
4. In Mr. Sloss's letter reference is made to (a) a statement made by the Secretary of State for the Colonies on 7th April 1948 on the restoration of the University, and (b) the report of a committee appointed in 1946 by the Secretary of State to advise on the future of the University.
A copy of the former is attached. A copy of the latter was circulated to members of the Committee as part of the Inter-University Council papers for the meeting on the 26th September, 1946 (I.U.C./C.37./46- Appendix D.).
Colonial Office, 8, Park Street,
London, W. 1.
WALTER ADAMS. Secretary.
20th May, 1948.
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29th April, 1948.
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Dear Adams,
Uncertainty about the future of Hong Kong has pre- vented us putting before the Inter-University Council and the Grants Committee any proposals for development. On 7th April the Secretary of State for the Colonies made a statement in the House that I saw only after my arrival in England on April 20th. The University is to be developed to its 1940 status with the aid of grants from the Hong Kong Government and, it now appears, from His Majesty's Treasury; a sum of £250,000, I understand, in both cases; and the Hong Kong Government will increase its recurring annual grant to the University from £28,000 to £96,000. We are now in a position to carry out the additions and developments, of teaching recommended by a committee that sat in Hong Kong in 1939. But the Secretary of State's statement was also, in effect, an acceptance of the recommendations of the 1946 Committee in London of which you were a member. Within two years we ought to be restored to our 1940 status and have well in hand the small additions to our work approved in 1939. But con- ditions will compel us at once, to go beyond these. The provision of training for more doctors and teachers will demand additional buildings, equipment and staff; post-graduate courses in medical subjects will increase the need for additional teaching beds in hospitals and the training of architects will have to be taken in hand next session: additional living accommodation for students, particularly
for women is necessary and for more expatriate professors and lecturers, as they can be housed outside the University only at an inordinate cost. To achieve these objects the University now wishes to have approval of the Inter-University Council and the assistance of the Grants Committee for the following projects:
1. The taking over of a Chinese Charity Hospital, the Tung Wah Eastern Hospital and its conversion into a teaching hospital to supplement our diminishing facilities for teaching in Government hospitals, and to make provision for additional students and for post-graduate students. (circa £90,000).
2. The provision of accommodation and equipment for the teaching of architecture. (Perhaps £15,000).
3. The rebuilding of an enlarged University Hall, the Government of Hong Kong supplying the funds to the total of the cost of restoring the present Hall, the Grants Committee being asked to give about £20,000 to meet the cost of extension.
4. The building of a Hall of Residence for about 100 women students, with accommodation for a Warden and two tutors (about £62,500).
5. Building and equipment for the training of teachers for Hong Kong and of teachers of English for China. The Grants Committee would be asked to assist only to the extent to which the new provision is necessary to meet purely Colonial needs (about £20,000).
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