TNAG-1072-FCO40-1322-Policy-of-the-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-1981 — Page 87

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Secondly, the level of resource provision differs substantially. The Baptist College is operating on a "shoestring" and that it achieves a great deal is due. considerably to the dedication of the staff. The Polytechnic is, relatively, well provided in physical resources and enjoys an advantage in staffing levels. The staffing level at the Baptist College is minimal, but a further point of difference is that those staff only have to support the diploma programmes whereas the Polytechnic staff have to support a broader range of work. Therefore, it is possible to say that both groups of staff are overworked and are not finding sufficient time to undertake rsearch and other forms of staff development. However, the necessarily greater number of staff in the Polytechnic does enable the range of expertise to be larger than in the Baptist College where, in fact, there are examples of inadequate coverage of the subject expertise. obverse situation is that the Baptist College staff form smaller groups which are easier to see as cohesive teams than is the case with the Polytechnic staff who are committed to several programmes each and are more in need of co-ordination. Not only are capital resource provisions slender in the Baptist College, but revenue for consumables, replacement, maintenance etc is seriously lacking.. For these reasons, even if the intended levels of the programmes were judged to be similar, the differences in resource provision would mean that the visiting party could not say that the actual achievements were similar as between the Baptist College and the Polytechnic.

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Significant differentials in salaries mean that a crucial feature of the Baptist College is the disruptive effect of high faculty turnover.

While the entry requirements for the Polytechnic programmes on the face of it look the lower (Hong Kong Certificate of Education at Ordinary level), in practice the majority of students have 'A' levels such that their "UCCA" type average points are actually higher than in the Baptist College. Therefore, one difference is that the ability of the students at entry is higher, in 'A' level terms, at the Polytechnic and this is attributed by the Baptist College to the present lack of official recognition for its awards, the greater attractiveness of the Polytechnic's physical resources and the lack of government funding for fifth year students. Meeting the students did not dispel this impression, but instead revealed the very high motivation of the Baptist College students which perhaps offsets their initial disadvantages.

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