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EDUCATION

enables a selected number of students, research scholars and academics from overseas to share the university's resources and research facilities. In addition to the regular academic terms, the programme also organises summer sessions. A total of 113 students and scholars from Austria, France, Indonesia, Israel, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Norway, the Philippines, Thailand, West Germany and the United States were enrolled in 1978.

The Department of Extra-Mural Studies offers more than 500 general courses in many subjects, some of which can be taken by correspondence. The department also provides a number of intensive courses leading to the award of certificates. The majority of the courses are conducted in Cantonese or Mandarin. The department collaborated with Commercial Television, before it ceased transmission in August, 1978, and with Radio Television Hong Kong in the production of instructional television and radio programmes.

The library system comprises the university library and branch libraries at each of the three constituent colleges. The university library is used primarily for research and advanced studies. As well as general reference books, the branch libraries provide books and periodicals for undergraduate studies and general reading. The four libraries together hold 326,017 volumes in oriental languages and 274,100 in western languages, and subscribe to 3,801 periodicals.

Research

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Four institutes the Institute of Business Management Studies, the Institute of Chinese Studies, the Institute of Science and Technology, and the Institute of Social Studies and the Humanities - provide research facilities that allow faculty members to keep up with, and contribute to, developments in their fields.

The Institute of Business Management Studies, the youngest research institute among the four, was established in March, 1978. The objectives of the institute are to provide the necessary facilities and to promote an atmosphere conducive to research work by members of the Faculty of Business Administration; to provide an appropriate channel for faculty members to co-operate among themselves or with researchers of other disciplines to take up worthwhile joint projects; to encourage, in particular, investigations into problems of special significance and relevance to the local scene; and to assist researchers in seeking grants from various sources to support meaningful programmes. In addition to research, the institute also organises seminars, lectures and other activities, not only to promote interests in this field, but also for the exchange of new and advanced ideas.

The Institute of Chinese Studies is carrying out research in a broad but unified concept of Chinese studies, including what is traditionally known as sinology. The institute has its own journal, of which nine volumes have been published. As a result of research sponsored by the institute, eight books - five on Chinese linguistics, two on Chinese intellectual history and one on Chinese economic history - have been published in the past four years. The Comparative Literature and Translation Centre is printing a number of translated works and is preparing many others. The centre publishes, semi-annually, an English-language journal, Renditions, which is devoted to translations of classical and contemporary Chinese material.