Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1965-1966 — Page 52

the support of the academic courses at the two universities and the in-service training courses sponsored by the department, and to assist seven individual social workers to further their studies at the Univer- sities of Toronto, McGill, British Columbia, Denver and Chicago as well as other training courses organized by the Institute of Medical Social Workers in London and the UNAFE Training Institute in Tokyo. Funds were also allocated to enable two delegates of the Hong Kong Mental Health Association to attend the World Federation of Mental Health Conference at Bangkok and for representatives from the two local universities to participate in the Sub-Regional Workshop on Professional Education in Community Development held in Bangkok. Disbursements from the fund amounted to $285,906.61 as against $184,013.58 in the previous year. The functions and membership of the fund's committee are set out at Appendix 4; full information is con- tained in a separate report by the trustee of the fund.

90 The Advisory Committee on Social Work Training (see also Appendix 4) met three times during the year to consider a series of questions connected with co-ordination of training at university level, the progress of in-service training and the report on a survey of the future needs for trained social workers in Hong Kong.

91 The government continued to provide bursaries for students at the University of Hong Kong, both for the diploma and the certificate courses, as well as for students taking a university arts degree with firm intention of proceeding afterwards to the diploma course. Bursaries were also provided, for the first time, to students of The Chinese University taking social work courses at the Chung Chi and United Colleges. The total value of bursaries awarded during 1965-66 was $135,200 held by five diploma students, five certificate students and twelve arts students at the Hong Kong University and twenty-six social work students at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

92 Scholarships are needed also to attract students of the highest calibre to pursue further studies in the social work course, to qualify them as professional workers. In the preceding year the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation had presented very handsome endow- ments to the two universities, sufficient to provide each with an income of about HK$25,000 a year for scholarships in social work. In 1965, the first awards of scholarships were made to nine students, four in the University of Hong Kong to take the diploma course and five in the Chinese University of Hong Kong to enable them to continue their social work training.

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