TNAG-0658-FCO40-807-Policy-of-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-1977 — Page 159

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XCC(77)19

school examinations - the Certificate of Education, the Matriculation Examination of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the 'A' level Examination of the University of Hong Kong together with any other school examinations that may subsequently be introduced, and the external examinations. The bill lays down the composition of the Authority and its powers, duties and resources, and provides for a necessary degree of financial control by Government over the revenue and expenditure of the Authority and, in particular, the setting of examinations fees.

Compostion of the Authority

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Clause 3 of the bill specifies that the Authority shall consist of 5 ex-officio members and between 17 and 20 other members appointed by the Governor. The ex-officio members will be the Vice-Chancellors of the two Universities and the Director of the Polytechnic (or their representatives), the Director of Education or his representative and the Secretary to the Authority. Among the appointed members there will be three other public officers from the Education Department (one of whom will be the Principal of a technical institute) and a representative from each University Senate and from the Polytechnic Board of Governors. The remaining appointed members will be drawn from Colleges of Educa- tion, Post-Secondary Colleges, schools and from commerce and industry. Members of the Authority will be appointed for renewable terms of not exceeding three years, and the initial appointees will therefore hold office for the transitional period of three years during which the Authority will assume its full range of responsibilities and become a self-financing body.

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Clause 3(5)(a) gives the Governor power to appoint the Chairman of the Authority from among its members. It is proposed that the Director of Education should be appointed as the first Chairman of the Authority in order to preside over the transitional stage, as the Authority will still be in receipt of a Government subsidy and, for at least a part of the time, heavily dependent on staff seconded by Government and on the services of various Government departments. It is also likely that the Director will be in a better position than an unofficial Chairman of the Authority to negotiate with the Universities regarding the assumption of responsibility by the Authority for the two sixth-form examinations. It is a firm inten- tion, however, that, after this initial appointment, an unofficial member of the Authority should be appointed as Chairman in order to reflect the independent status of the Authority.

Appointment of Secretary

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Clause 6 provides that the first Secretary of the Authority shall be appointed by the Governor for a period which the Governor shall specify.

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