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(who is also the head of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank) cautiously estimated that it should be possible to raise 85 or $6 million from local private benefactions by a well organi zed appeal over a period of years. In our various talks with members of the unofficial and official communities, we were impressed by the local pride in the University and the spirit of keeness to build it up into a worthy institution.
A decisive factor in the success of an appeal for large donations, particularly from the resident Chinese community and possibly from the large amount of refugee capital which has come into Hong Kong recently from Shanghai, will be a lead from His Majesty's Government, showing its confidence in the University and so in the future of the Colony by such capital and endowment grants as we have recommended.
12.
We have given our recommendations for financial assistance and conclude by ummarizing the reasons which seem to us to justify them.
(a) They are intended to carry out a well-considered plan of development proposed by the Senate and other University authorities themselves, in whom the Inter-University Council can have confidence.
(b) The University is in being and has successfully re- established itself after the war with active local support. It is impossible, on political grounds alone, to consider suggesting now that it should be closed.
(c) Its academic standards, its capacity to exploit the opportunities available for research, and its standing as a representative of British scholarship are weakened at present by its comparative poverty. relatively small addition to its resources would have a great effect in releasing its potential and raising its standards.
A
(d) It has in the current session 631 students (334 Medicine, 86 Engineering, 169 Arts, 42 Science). It receives far more applications than it can grant (181 applicants were rejected in 1949).
It plans to have 710 students This is a considerable
in the session 1950-51. contribution to Colonial higher education.
(e) The Director of Medical Services, the Director of
Education and the Director of Public Works, provided us with estimates of graduates needed in the next tun years within the Colony. These showed that there was ample employment opportunity for all the well qualified graduates the University could produce and, in the case of education, an urgent need for greatly increased numbers. The expansion of secondary schools is rapidly increasing the student supply and will enable the University to raise its entrance standards.
(f) A breakdown of student numbers by race and domicile shows
that among present students, 15 "races" or nationalities are represented (541 out of 616 are Chinese); 318 come from Hong Kong, 161 from Malaya, 90 from China, and the remainder from 23 different countries. The University is clearly fulfilling an international purpose, particularly in serving overseas Chinese. Neither the Vice-Chancellor of Hong Kong nor the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya considered that the establishment of the University
of/
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