Again the fact that courses require the approval of a non-specialist admini- strative officer or that teaching equipment must be referred to Government officers who have normally no teaching experience are all severe limitations which affect the satisfactory functioning of the College. As a part of the Department of Education the College is inevitably treated as a large secondary school which tends to stultify its development and discourage its staff; most important of all it does nothing to raise the prestige of the technicians whom the College trains. It is frequently said that one of the factors influencing a Government in retaining direct control is the saving in money that can be effected thereby but in fact the tendency is the other way, a good Board of Governors faced with a prospect of limited grants being much more conservative in the use of funds.
6.5.3. It is proposed that the College of Technology be placed under a Board of Governors which would be limited in its autonomy only in so far as its role in the development of technical education in Hong Kong was concerned. In other words it would play a specific part in training intermediate and professional level personnel for industry and the economy at large according to the needs of Government. It would be entitled to grants-in-aid from public or private funds and to raise loans or solicit capital grants or grants-in-kind. It would initially of course have to
take over the existing staff which would have to be given the option of remaining in the civil service but it would recruit all future staff direct. The Board would have to appoint trustees in whom to vest the buildings and equipment and any land granted to it. A draft constitution and set of rules is shown at Appendix 5.
6.6. Costing and Development Planning
6.6.1. As has been frequently said, technical college work is expensive and it is very understandable that Government should be concerned at the rate of recurrent expenditure. However, as often as not, the reason for this concern is a lack of information as to what the real costs are and whether they can be kept down to certain levels. The answer in the writer's view is a two-fold one; firstly, the College must analyse the cost of its various arrangements, isolating the variable and non-variable elements and the more expensive ones, in an endeavour to determine where savings can be made or at least cost-effectiveness improved.
6.6.2. Recurrent costs fall into two main classes, staff salaries, and 'other costs' or in Government parlance 'other charges'. The former is not susceptible to any further analysis but, the 'other costs' element can immediately be broken down into two further groups of costs, non-variable (with student numbers) such as electricity and water costs, cleaning, grounds maintenance etc., and variable, including tuition materials of all kinds. Further division is possible into either different kinds of course or into different levels. The element of the cost analysis can either be the per capita cost or the cost per student hour, the latter being more useful when the further breakdown in different kinds or levels of work is contem- plated. When the analysis has been completed and any savings incorporated into the cost elements, the latter can then be used to construct a grant- in-aid structure.
6.6.3.
Secondly, the results of the analysis and the proposed grant-in-aid figures should be discussed in detail with a representative of the Finance Department in Government as only in this way can Government be given a clear picture of what the real costs are. By present costs and in comparison with other colleges at a similar stage of development, the College figure of approximately £114 per capita for full-time students, is inexpensive but it is suspected that the low cost arises from the relatively low salaries being paid and from the lack of adequate ancillary and administrative staff rather than from any cost-consciousness in the College.
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