ENG-1965 — Page 186

SOCIAL WELFARE

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work people from various walks of life are brought together in new relationships, groups and associations. They are stimulated to work in co-operation for the wider community and to look towards a better community for themselves and for their children. An increasing number of members in the groups are taking on leadership roles and accepting heavier responsibilities within and outside the community centres. This enables the staff of the centres to maintain regular contacts with people working and living in the surrounding areas with the object of making each centre increasingly a focal point for the local community.

The fourth and last community centre to be built with World Refugee Year funds was approaching completion at the end of the year at Tai Hang Tung resettlement estate. To identify the needs of the area, which consists of three estates and a large squatter area, a practical sample survey of 1,235 families was conducted in July and is yielding valuable data for planning the work of the new centre.

TRAINING

Training and skill are most necessary if effective social welfare services are to be provided. Following a recommendation by social work training consultants in 1963, a Chair of Social Studies was established at the University of Hong Kong but unfortunately still remains vacant. The Chinese University created a Chair of Social Work which was occupied by Dr Pauline Young as visiting professor but became vacant again in July. The Advisory Com- mittee on Social Work Training, which is concerned with the promotion and co-ordination of training for social workers in Hong Kong at all levels, appointed a sub-committee to survey the needs for trained social workers over the next seven years. Its report, published in November, should be valuable to the universities in forward planning. A total of 33 students completed social work courses at the two universities during the year and the report suggests that the need for trained social workers in the next few years will be about double this number. The Hong- kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation generously endowed five scholarships of $5,000 per annum at each university in celebration of its centenary; nine of these were awarded during the year. In all, 20 government bursaries for social studies were provided at